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Originally Posted by dcaron9999
Decided to go with the full synthetic Liqui Moly Top Tec 1800 ATF, recommended for our ZF 8HP 45 tranny. I chose not to change the pan and filter for this first phase (partial ATF replacement).
I first drained and measured the original ATF liquid from the pan. About 4.5 liters came out, and viscosity seemed thin/watery with a greenish black tint to it. It did not smell as nasty as typical Mercon or Dexron ATF's I have replaced in the past on my other vehicles, so chemical composition is definitely different with the ZF-approved ATF's.
The drain bolt is plastic and has a weird ratchery fealing in the first couple of threads as you loosen it, or you finish tightening it up, then it locks. Even though it's not designed to be re-useable, such as the the pan, I was very careful not to strip it, or damage its embedded o-ring.
To save time and anxiety, I did not want to deal with a running car over my head, and temperature readings which you are supposed to do, and I followed for my other cars in the past.
So to ensure I inject the same volume of ATF (4.5 liters) back into the pan, I ended up going ghetto style - I tilted the vehicle on its side, to have the fill hole higher off the ground than the rest of the pan, which allowed me to force-feed exactly 4.5 liters of fresh ATF back into the pan.
Been about a week, and so far so good. Did not notice an immediate and striking difference in driveability. My X3 35i had 108,000Kms when I bought it. Ive read several recommendations for our tranny is an ATF + pan/filter replacement at every 100,000Kms. Rather be on the safe side, and call me anal, but I drop and fill all liquids on any pre-owned cars I buy, and I intend to keep for a while, or even resell more easily. I keep all bills for my maintenance records.
Will probably proceed to phase 2 (pan/filter + ATF fluid replacement) in the next 1000-5000 Kms, to try to get to most of the old-new blended ATF fluid circulating into the system (piping, radiator ,etc).
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BIG_KID
Funny, i will be doing the "ghetto style" refill also.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BIG_KID
I made some ramps out of 2x10 boards stacked on top of each other. put them on left side and drive up on them.
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On second thought, the fill hole is towards the back of the transmission and vehicle. It would seem that if you reversed the car onto ramps - raising the rear of the car - you would be able to achieve the same result instead of tilting the car on one side?