Gearbox-oil service. E46

[323i e46]

I noticed a leak under my gearbox when i was washing my car's under side. am planning to have it looked into in a week or two depending on costs. from what i have gathered its not a layman's task. anyone had it done recently? where can i go to for quotes around Pretoria or Klerksdorp. preferably in Klerksdorp because Pta is where i work. i like working on vehicles closer to home.

I had posted this on the wrong forum some time back and good peeps directed me to the right place.

thanks for the PM's, they really helped.

I had a talk with one of the members here who advised me to check it out my self before i went to the mech guys. well,
today i got around to it as I had a day to kill. I wanted to check the gearbox oil level. I went out and bought a few 500ml of Castrol Manual Transmission oil because I decided that instead of just filling it up it would be best to drain the old oil and fill in with new.

it was a fairly easy task . For my fellow rookies,have a look.

PS, always disconnect your battery when working on your car.


small print DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK

i used about 1.15L of this







you need an oil pump to pump in the new oil




17 socket, rachet and rachet extention




Dont work under your car without stands




The 'drain nut' situated on the bottom side of the gearbox




The 'fill nut' situated on the (driver) side of the gearbox.








As the pics say, it wasn't a big job.

I realized the actual moisture was from the a/c drain situated right on top of the gearbox. I guess the water was making the gearbox wet and this explains the "leak". i so concluded after noticing that the gearbox oil was still full ( after opening the fill-nut and putting my finger in to check the oil level). I drained it nonetheless and filled the gearbox with the new oil. Fill it to the brim until the oil comes out of the drain-nut.

The old oil was quite dirty and had metal fillings from the many kms of use <330k kms. i used about two and a half pints.

 

[samman325]

Does the oil i these boxes have to be changed at regular intervals or is it also a "lifetime" oil?

 

[Flash-Gordon]

:bravo::bravo::bravo:

Any noticeable differences after changing the oil?

Did you perhaps take pics of the old oil?

PS: Like the red Z4 in the background :thumbsup:

 

[323i e46]

Does the oil i these boxes have to be changed at regular intervals or is it also a "lifetime" oil?

BMW says that it a lifetime oil but some people have argued that there is nothing like the a "lifetime' oil. every oil has a limit on its viscosity. maybe the dealers never thought we'd still be driving around in our cars after their ODOs hit 300k kms. Arguments aside, I believe that new oil is better than old oil.:=):

BravoBravoBravo

Any noticeable differences after changing the oil?

Did you perhaps take pics of the old oil?

PS: Like the red Z4 in the background Thumbsup2

Shifting is much, much, more smoother.
unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the old oil. It was a dark brownish fluid which was flowing without much viscosity.

and oooohhh, the Z4:ty:, here she is with her crew. its about 3yrs old now, batt powerd. 2hrs of charging gives about 1.5hr drive. Batts life is + 1year.