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      07-29-2018, 05:10 AM   #1
titium
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Best Transmission Oil...

Just thought I'd post my experience when it comes to manual transmission oil.

80k km - Transmission oil changed at a indy shop ( unsure what oil used). Following this consistent 1-2 crunch first shift in the morning if the shift wasn't really gentle. Also used to crunch occasionally on hard 1-2 shifts when warm and up to temp.

100k km - replaced fluid with redline MTL, morning 1-2 shift issue resolved and gearbox in general felt alot better.

After around 30k km the shifting characteristics began to noticeably degrade (basically overnight). The box became really notchy and increased shift force was required to select gears. The gearbox also became quite noisy.

140k - Decided to switch to LT3 OEM BMW fluid. The old MTL fluid looked noticeably discoloured when it was removed.

WOW what a difference immediately the box became noticeably quieter. Within the next 2000km every day it felt like the box was improving, to the point now where shifts are effortless. Even high RPM fast 1-2 shifts, effortless. Morning shifts in when cold, perfect.

I cannot say enough words on how damn good the OEM fluid is, it's totally transformed the driving experience. So much so i regret ever changing it.
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      07-29-2018, 09:58 PM   #2
bbnks2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by titium View Post
Just thought I'd post my experience when it comes to manual transmission oil.

80k km - Transmission oil changed at a indy shop ( unsure what oil used). Following this consistent 1-2 crunch first shift in the morning if the shift wasn't really gentle. Also used to crunch occasionally on hard 1-2 shifts when warm and up to temp.

100k km - replaced fluid with redline MTL, morning 1-2 shift issue resolved and gearbox in general felt alot better.

After around 30k km the shifting characteristics began to noticeably degrade (basically overnight). The box became really notchy and increased shift force was required to select gears. The gearbox also became quite noisy.

140k - Decided to switch to LT3 OEM BMW fluid. The old MTL fluid looked noticeably discoloured when it was removed.

WOW what a difference immediately the box became noticeably quieter. Within the next 2000km every day it felt like the box was improving, to the point now where shifts are effortless. Even high RPM fast 1-2 shifts, effortless. Morning shifts in when cold, perfect.

I cannot say enough words on how damn good the OEM fluid is, it's totally transformed the driving experience. So much so i regret ever changing it.
That was my experience too. Not a fan of how the redline fluid felt in an n55 box. I tried half MTF and straight D6. Nothing felt as good as the OE fluid...
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      07-29-2018, 10:02 PM   #3
The Wind Breezes
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You are right. It's fun to experiment with non-standard fluids but at the end of the day 99% of us doing so don't have a valid reason for doing so. BMW's engineers probably do have a valid reason for speccing the fluid they did.
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      07-29-2018, 10:45 PM   #4
Thunderguts
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I’ve tried many, many different fluids in many different cars. I tried Redline in two different cars and had no love for it in either one. In my opinion, it’s too slick. It doesn’t allow the synchros enough friction to function properly. It might be great stuff for racing crunch boxes, but I had no luck with it. It might work better with a friction additive, but who knows.

I would always stick with OEM fluid for at least the first 50k miles. After that point, however, synchros can start to show some wear and may benefit from a friction modified fluid like GM or Pennzoil Synchromesh. My 128i had 68k miles when I got it and it was starting to require a good deal of effort to shift. I found the Synchromesh helped some, but less than it has helped in other cars. My S197 Mustang is an exception. It had 4600 miles when I bought it and I instantly changed out the fluid first with Royal Purple. That was awful. Then I tried Redline. That didn’t help either. I went back to the stock Ford fluid and I still wasn’t happy. When I finally put GM Synchromesh in, everything was perfect.

Don’t be afraid to try different fluids. It’s neither hard nor very expensive to try different brands, but you really have no reason to change fluids until you notice a change in shifting performance. As to why your shifting got better when you went back to OEM, who knows. Maybe you had too many metal flakes in there and it just needed a change.
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