330Ci ZHP

[— kung fu jesus —]

113039 miles, according to the records, the trans and diff fluid were done about 60k miles ago. This should be the last of the major service to reset the car (Woot!).

Diff fluid: Valvoline synthetic 75w90.


Car up on jackstands, leveled out, I started with the differential. Fill on the back (left) drain on the right (under the axle). Both are female 14mm hex.


Super simple. The fluid was extremely clean, so I suspect the shop that welded up the rear subframe reinforcements changed it out.


Speaking of rear subframe, I took this opportunity to re-torque all the subframe bolts that were disassembled back in February when I had the reinforcements done. Just a little kick on each one.




At this point an emergency weather alert came across. My wife opened the door to tell me there was ping pong ball-sized hail in the area.

Great.

That is Texas-type hail. We don’t get that here much at all. I’m thinking of taking the car down to get my wife’s car now sitting in the driveway outside so I can do this work back in the garage, but I’m at the point where I can finish the transmission fluid in the same amount of time as I can to drop the car, so I keep pressing with the quickness.

ZF 6 speed decal to confirm I have the right fluid.


Fill plug a little left of center, drain underneath, both are female 8mm hex, the same part.


Draining was pretty quick as it was still warm from an earlier drive. It was dark but not terrible, no discernible shavings or chunks.


Took about 1.8 quarts. I wanted to use Valvoline Synchromesh, but none could be found locally. Parts store sold me Royal Purple Synchromax at the same price for my inconvenience. That was a pretty nice discount, pretty much the second quart was free.


With the threat of hail looming, and some serious thunder crashing around me, I furiously pumped int the new fluid, wrapped up the drips, double-checked my work, then hustled to drop the car to get both cars in the garage ASAP.

No hail appeared, just typical Southern summer thunderstorms.

I took the car for a test drive after the rain passed. The re-torque on the rear subframe removed a small squeak (nice!), the fresh transmission fluid? Wasn’t expecting the improvement it yielded. It shifted beautifully before, now it’s even better.



Success!