[DaanBMW]

I've been thru this debate & reading & changing too many times now... I was pretty determined to use Red Line MTL... Then I started charting all the damn tranny oils out there. The RL D4 stood out because of it high viscosity index: 198 (this is telling you how well the oil keeps its viscosity over the temperature range). Most are quite bit less stable: RL MTL is 183, M1 ATF is 176, Fuchs Titan Sintofluid is 175, Mobil1 Dex VI is 145, a.s.o.

Torn between the MTL and D4, today I asked RL and (1) they said I should change more gradually from the LT-3/D6 ATF not jump to the MTL, and (2) that they do not recommend mixing MTL with D4 ATF (I wanted to do it in lieu of using straight ATF in a MT... I just don't like the idea). So D4 will go in ! I'll report the results. Mind you I'm at 86k+ miles so probably even olive oil would help at this point (the extra virgin kind, lol).

Oh and I also have this issue of not engaging properly in 1st gear every so often. I am aware of the test with shutting the engine down while it's happening, but I don't think that is realistic: when you're a stop light the last thing you want to do is delay your start even further by now turning our engine off. At home or side street yes, but at a traffic light ? It's just not predictable enough to be done when not in traffic.

I'll have to see if this and a bunch of other things I'm doing while installing an LSD (replacing guibo & center support brg) will do anything towards solving this really ridiculous issue in a bimmer. (My 2001 VW shift way better @ 140k miles)