Re: 1994 540i Auto Transmission Service and Fluid

[Vincent Poy <vince@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 18 Aug 2002, Henri Baccouche wrote:

> Actually what you really want to know is:
>
> Will changing this OEM ATF fluid in your "early" model 5HP30 make a
> difference
> when the car has ~80-100K miles. Do you have the updated valve body?

	It's not my car since I was really posting the question for a
friend but how did you guess the 80-100K miles since according to my
friend, it's 95k miles and the auto tranny isn't gripping the gears
correctly or something and his friend who is one of Asia's famous sports
racers said for him to change the transmission oil but he won't do it for
it.  No idea about the updated valve body, how does one find out?

> First : Only use the special OEM ATF.......if you must.

	Is there any thing special about it since it seems to cost a
fortune and all the BMW Performance catalogs including Bavarian Autosport
seems to sell the Redline stuff, is there anything wrong with it.  Also,
my friend asked if Slick50 ATF is a bad idea.

> Second : I have been monitoring this issue, since the "lifetime  fluid"
> craze began , and I think it's not worth it. The manufacturer doesn't
> recommend this service as a
> regular thing.

	Yeah... I read about that as well but the lifetime might mean
the lifetime of the actual warranty.  Even the Koni shocks have a lifetime
warranty, my friend did worn them out and new ones made a big difference.

> There have been many reported failures at ~80K miles
> and no anecdotal reports of ~150K miles without replacement.

	Wow, so at 150k miles, it will need a $6000 AT replacement?


Cheers,
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