Transmission Fluid Change - UPDATE - important for all

[rogbmw]

As many of you know, I recently had the 1M in for its 1200 mile service. The transmission fluid was changed to MTF-LT-2 fluid. Today, with the help of the service managers at two dealerships, I think I have found information that all of us in the US need to be aware of.

Here is the link for my first thread and what happened: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=592893

But, in all fairness to the the dealership, let me tell all of you what we have discovered this morning.

1. Service bulletin 00-01-10, dated 6/9/2011 either has been changed, or something has happened, because there is no mention of the requirement of MTF-LT-5 fluid requirement in the copy provided to me! I have a copy of the Canadian version (previously posted on this board), and there is a specific line stating that the fluid required was MTF-LT-5. This has been left out of the US bulletin (I have a copy provided by one of my Service Manager friends showing this!!).

2. The dealer I took the car to - to their credit - actually did have information showing MTF-LT-2 as the current fluid. They had NO service bulletins showing the requirement for MTF-LT-5 fluid as the required fluid for the 1M. I then checked with a friend who is the Service Manager at another BMW dealership where I purchased the car from, and again, no bulletin showed up in the system stating this.

3. The Service Manager at the dealership where I had the 1200 mile service done personally took it as a challenge to find what was stated as the correct fluid. To his credit, it took him almost 3 hours to finally get an answer from BMW after numerous phone calls and emails.

What ultimately happened is that he ended up getting in touch with BMW Technical Department in Germany (I believe he said it was Germany, but I may be mistaken), and they ended up emailing him stating that yes, the correct fluid for the 1M 6-speed transmission is MTF-LT-5.

So, they are getting some MTF-LT-5 fluid overnighted, and are going to change it this week. They are also going to change it again in 4 weeks.

Evidently BMW NA has burried this so deeply, and made changes, that US Service departments can not find this information. It is especially troubling that the Service Bulletin copy provided by my friend at the other dealership had no mention of the MTF-LT-5 requirement. This US bulletin is essentially the same one quoted on this board that was the Canadian version, with the exception that the MTF-LT-5 requirement was omitted.

Bottom Line...thanks to this board. No wonder the US Dealers are confused. I had 2 Service Managers at 2 different BMW dealerships looking this up, and both could not find it. It took the personal efforts of one of the Service Managers to physically call BMW Technical in Germany several times to get the correct answer.

[szcyxzh]

Which dealership in FL it is? Seems very sincere in this case.

[mPlasticDesign]

Thanks. Too bad you had to be the canary in the coal mine for the rest of us.

This will be useful for my upcoming 1200.

[rogbmw]

Originally Posted by szcyxzh

Which dealership in FL it is? Seems very sincere in this case.

I agree - I really think they are trying to do the correct thing - even when BMW NA makes if difficult. The Service Manager told me that it is really getting hard for his technicians to go through all the Service Bulletins because of how long they are.

I will post their name when it is all over, but I have been very pleased with their response, and I really give them credit to find out the correct answer.

[Dackelone]

+1 on your info rogbmw. Once again, we the people on this forum know more than the dealers do! Lets keep sharing our knowledge.

[v1k0d3n]

thank you so much for sharing with the group! as stated already, it sucks that you have to be the one to go through this, but at least your dealer is taking care of it properly. this would be a good note to put in a sticky/maintenance thread (it's been debated before, but can now put to rest).

[v1k0d3n]

oh and btw...always trust what Dackel tells you

[b33g33]

You're a good man.

Hope everything is fine with the car and no ill-effects from the wrong fluid.

Why, exactly, is BMW USA being so cagey about this info?

[Jet Mech]

Originally Posted by v1k0d3n

thank you so much for sharing with the group! as stated already, it sucks that you have to be the one to go through this, but at least your dealer is taking care of it properly. this would be a good note to put in a sticky/maintenance thread (it's been debated before, but can now put to rest).

+1. Can the Mods put this in the Maintenance thread?

[LeifW]

That sounds like an excellent dealership response! I'm impressed.

Leif W.

[dlong82]

From Safe4now:
"...Per ZF website , under their list of lubricants ( TE-ML-11 ) under product groups S6-45 BMW Part# 8322 2167 666 (MTF-LT-5) is actually
Pentosin FFL-3..."

I found this source for FFL-3
http://www.autoparts2020.com/rsdev/p..._HDR_ID=906870

As the dealer did not include the transmission fluid change in my break-in service, I am planning on doing it myself.

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by dlong82

From Safe4now:
"...Per ZF website , under their list of lubricants ( TE-ML-11 ) under product groups S6-45 BMW Part# 8322 2167 666 (MTF-LT-5) is actually
Pentosin FFL-3..."

I found this source for FFL-3
http://www.autoparts2020.com/rsdev/p..._HDR_ID=906870

As the dealer did not include the transmission fluid change in my break-in service, I am planning on doing it myself.

You can also pick it up at any Porsche dealer.

Neil

[Redadair]

rogbmw, great write up on this issue.

I have contacted my CA to have him look into getting the correct oil prior to me getting my car which has 716 miles from ED, and the 1200 mile service which will be right after a short trip when I get my car.

[bmwproblem]

Which dealer was this in Florida?
I'd be surprised if my local dealer would go the extra mile like this.
Scott

[Papethova]

How are some people getting a tranny fluid change on their 1200 mile service? If you ask for it will you get it?

[rad doc]

anyone know how many liters of the porsche stuff would be need to flush the trans?

[b33g33]

So, why do we need a synthetic transmission oil specifically designed for Porsche PDK systems in our manual 1M trans?

[nachob]

Glad they are addressing the problem, but the real issue still remains that you raised a warning flag about LT-5 and they just ignored it. If I was the advisor, I would have come back to you and said...LOOK our document says LT-2. What do you want to do?

Instead, they just ignore us and go ahead and do it. This has happened to me in the past and I have even told them, look there is a mistake in the documentation. They just blow us off. Once a customer has raised a concern beforehand, they should reconcile what the customer said with what their documents say not just ignore you.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by b33g33

So, why do we need a synthetic transmission oil specifically designed for Porsche PDK systems in our manual 1M trans?

I think bc BMW MTF-LT-# fluid is closer to ATF specs than say a true gear oil. ie: it is a very thin vicosity oil. Red Line oil says to use their synthetic ATF oils in BMW manuals for years now. Either D4-ATF or D6-ATF Red Line oils. I will soon try some of the D4 in my 135i manual trans.

Originally Posted by rad doc

anyone know how many liters of the porsche stuff would be need to flush the trans?

The 1M trans holds 2 liters. Depends on how many times you want to flush the trans. ?

Originally Posted by b33g33

You're a good man.



Hope everything is fine with the car and no ill-effects from the wrong fluid.



Why, exactly, is BMW USA (NA) being so cagey about this info?

I think its SOP (standard operating procedure) for companies in the USA. In one word the answer to your question is: LAWYERS! Most car companies are relutant to put anything in corperate writting/menos, emails. I suspect the true gear oil specs is probably burried in some ETK file - that the dealers have not had to time find/look at it. Instead they just send an SOS email to the BMW Help desk and get a verbal answer. That way its faster turn around and better for BMW NA lawyers.


Dackel

[Redadair]

Originally Posted by rogbmw

Evidently BMW NA has burried this so deeply, and made changes, that US Service departments can not find this information. It is especially troubling that the Service Bulletin copy provided by my friend at the other dealership had no mention of the MTF-LT-5 requirement. This US bulletin is essentially the same one quoted on this board that was the Canadian version, with the exception that the MTF-LT-5 requirement was omitted.

Bottom Line...thanks to this board. No wonder the US Dealers are confused. I had 2 Service Managers at 2 different BMW dealerships looking this up, and both could not find it. It took the personal efforts of one of the Service Managers to physically call BMW Technical in Germany several times to get the correct answer.

I forgot to ask you, did the Tech that called and got the answer reference a Service Bulletin date or number that does list the correct Trans Oil Requirement? This would be very helpful to point our local dealers to to help avoid this issue being repeated over and over again.

Thanks

[HALOTHANE]

Just to clarify....according to Service Bulletin 00-01-10, the transmission fluid does NOT require changing until 50,000km (pages 14-15).

This is ONLY for the NORTH AMERICAN market, mind you.

See attached bulletin pages below.

[HALOTHANE]

....And here is a copy of said bulletin for everyone's (dry) reading pleasure. Cheers.