Thanks. That is the filler hole. I have lots of socket extensions, just did not think of attacking it from that high up due to the fact that I had not removed the air box! Cannot wait to see your filler set up photos. My plan was to use a cheap filler pump, the type that can screw into most quart oil bottles and get more 1/4 inch clear hose to make the hose several feet long so I could hold the bottle above the engine and pump down into the trans.

 

Dude, don't get your hopes up because I may have the wrong hole. If I got the right one, then we are golden, it is easy as pie. What I will use is a funnel with a long clear plastic tubing. Walmart has'em for 5 bucks or so.
This is starting to sound like a much easier job than I thought.
I will be home in exactly 4 and half hours and will post my pictures.
The bolt is perfectly accessible from the top without removing any of the air intake components, just undo the hose going from the snorkel into the air intake box to get your hand down to the bolt. Also, on the right side it is sitting flush against a metal part (not sure what it is), so there is almost no clearance for any other tool other than a standard T-55 torx. I just hope I got the right filler plug! Have you looked inside yours? Does it look like it is partially blocked off? It is hard to describe but the hole looks like it's plugged and has a small opening on the side. Make sense? I tried to stick clear tubing and suction some ATF out to inspect condition, but couldn't get the darn thing to squeeze in. I can tell, by the small size, that it will take a long long time for the ATF to pour in.

 

That has to be the hole, it sounds like the one in the pictures, but I have not opened mine up yet. The funnel with a long hose sounds much easier than pumping. Wal-Mart is 5 minutes from home! Be sure to heat your fluid before pouring it in. Place it in a tub or bathtub of really hot water for 30 minutes to warm. The tranny has some sensors that need warm fluid to get an accurate fill reading, note their instructions about temperature. Heating it to over 90 degrees should help.

 

I wasn't going to worry about it. The car should NOT be running while you fill it up. I think they warm up the ATF to make it pour faster but I'll do it on the last quart when making sure I got the proper fill. The car should be turned off when the pan is empty. It should only be running when you are making sure you have the right ATF in, meaning pouring until it comes out at the drain, with the overflow stand pipe in. Any sensors in the way should recalibrate once the car has gotten a chance to route the ATF and warm it up.
So the reverse order after the pan is drained is put the stand pipe in, fill her up with roughly the same quantity you got out, start her up, let her idle, cycle through all shift positions for at least 2 seconds per position, and then start pouring warmed up ATF in until it pours out the drain hole.
Another reason I avoided the pump, which I have, is that if you pump faster than the ATF can go in, you make a mess

 

Looked again at RealOEM
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...63&hg=24&fg=15
Best bet, #6 is the droid we are looking for. However, that angle is nowhere near what I am seeing. It is sitting almost perfectly level with the top.

 

Pics, as promised. I circled the fill hole in the 2nd pic in case it's hard to spot. Do I have the right one? I hope so!

 

Here's another pic showing the T-55 torx I used, how the fill bolt looks and next to that funnel hose. Notice that it is an exact, perfect fit for the hole

 

So, am I looking at the right bolt? :D

 

Got this pic from Bentley Publishers. The orientation is right, bottom pic is front of car, top pic is rear of the car based on the location of the heat exchanger. I see no other bolts, so I got the right one

 

Thanks for the photos and great tips. I think once one of us does this we need to rewrite it as a sticky for the How to do it section.
Here is a link to buy a case of 3309 fluid for around $51
http://avlube.com/mobilatf3309.html
They are Mobil Exxon distributors.

 

I can order it locally through a Mobil 1 authorized seller/lube shop. 12 quarts is way too much (tranny capacity is around 6 if you drain the whole thing, which is impossible). I was just going to get some Toyota Type IV ATF which I am told is the exact same thing. $5 bucks and change at the dealer, always in stock. I'll get 5 quarts just to be sure, even though I'll most likely end up only using 4.5 or so.
When I do this, I'll snap some photos for a guide.

 

Finally got a chance to do the ATF drain today. It's midnight so I'll post pics some other time, as soon as I get a chance.
First off, the funnel in the pic above did not work. I now know why the dealer tool is required. What they have is just a screw-on head attached to a clear plastic tube. The plug has a very small hole through which the ATF flows, as such it goes in WAY slow. If there is ANY room around the hole, the ATF will flow out and you will make a mess. I got lucky with a straight plastic funnel with a long neck, it was just about the same size as the hole, so I shoved it in there (it was so tight, I could have actually screwed it in) and filled it right up.
The instructions to keep the car level are bullcrap. If you do that, you will only get 2 quarts out at most. The best thing to do is jack the front as high as you can. The drain hole is towards the rear of the car so the higher the incline, the more ATF you will get out. The car only needs to stay perfectly level if you are checking the ATF level and making sure it is not overfilled or underfilled. If you have no evidence of leaks anywhere around the pan and plug, then you should by all means have the correct amount of ATF that should be in there from factory. One could always check the level after a drain and fill.
So the procedure is simple. I recommend you do everything below with a cold engine.
Jack the front up as high as you can
Make sure you can get to the fill bolt and take it out. Unbolt the clamp on the hose to the intake box, easiest way to get to the bolt. Get a LONG extension, put the T55 torx on it and unscrew the fill bolt.
Make sure you have a funnel that will work, or better yet get your hands on the dealer tool. The funnel that worked for me is the orange plastic kind you can find at Walmart.
If you can't do the two things above (get the bolt out and have something that you can fill with), you have no business draining the ATF because you will NOT be able to fill it up!
Take off the underbody splash guard along with the tube that goes to the power steering fan
Unbolt the ATF drain plug using an Allen 5. When I did this, with the car cold, I got just under a quart out. My car was NOT jacked up, but it was on a very slight incline (just enough to get the bubble to go half over the mark on a level). Be patient for the ATF to drain.
Use the same Allen key, with the long end, to take the stand pipe out. It is in the same hole as the drain plug. The stand pipe is plastic. Be gentle. Don't force the key in, take your time and make sure you get it right.
You will get more ATF out after the stand pipe comes out. How much, will really depend on how high you have the car jacked up. In my case, when I realized it was better to have the front up, I slid the jackstand for changing the spare tire, jacket it up to full and got out another quart and half.
Measure how much ATF you got out. I went to Walmart and bought a 6 quart plastic drain pan for $3 and the nicest thing was that it was measured on the side, so it was very easy for me to know exactly how much I got out.
After all of it has been done, install in reverse. Careful again with the stand pipe. You do not want to cross thread it or overtorque it. Just tighten it enough, it won't go anywhere since it is held in place anyway by the drain plug. I definitely recommend you get a replacement crush washer for the drain plug for peace of mind and guarantee that you won't drip ATF.
Once you got the stand pipe in and the drain plug, fill up with ATF the exact amount you got out. Be patient, it goes in very slowly. Watch at all times to make sure you are not leaking ATF around the fill bolt and funnel head.
Screw the ATF fill plug by hand first because if you do it with the T55, you have a very high chance of cross-threading it. Your key will sit at an angle, it is inevitable. So screw it by hand 2 good full turns and then go with the key. The full plug has a rubber O-ring, I would not worry about replacing it but it's up to you.
And that's about it! Like I said, I took some pictures so I'll post them up. Not much else to reveal other than what I already have above.

I only drained 2.5 quarts out of the total of 6 in the system, needless to say I was disappointed. I will do another drain and fill and this time I will jack up the front to the heavens. I could already tell the tranny shifted better, it was smoother. In manual mode it shifted nice and crisp as always. In D mode, from 1st to 2nd I can feel a slight slip which I am hoping the transmission will re-learn to shift and it will go away. The slip is after the gear disengages, when the next gear engages, it slips slightly, as if the ATF is too oily, if that makes sense. I used Mobil 1 synthetic universal ATF. It is quoted as being suitable for JWS 3309 replacement. As far as how my old ATF looked ... I kept it and will take pictures. It is the color of coffee. Pretty much opaque, very dark brown. If I swoosh it around, whatever sticks on the sides of the plastic bottle I have it in, looks a dark red. I definitely think it was due for a change.
Anyone want to chip in for a Blackstone Labs analysis on this thing? LOL.

 

BTW, OEM ATF fill is JWS-3309. I have done plenty of investigation and it seems that the Toyota Type IV ATF is the same thing. Mobil has a 3309 ATF as well, but it is not synthetic. If you want "the good stuff", go big with Amsoil. Or stick with Mobil 1 synthetic universal ATF, it is specifically labeled as being suitable replacement for JWS-3309. Since they are the supplier of Mini OEM JWS-3309, I would think they know 100% for sure if their formulation works.

 

Just shows what a load of b@ll@x it is when BMW tell you the autobox is filled for life, same thing they told me at Renault about our laguna.


I think our cooper s auto could do with a fluid change as sometimes it will shift a tad hard into second gear, up & down, but ours has only done 24k miles, ours seems to shift smooth when cold.
Do you think there is a software update for the gearbox ecu, as its a 2006 model I am not sure if one is available
I wonder how many mini s auto owners are suffering with the harsh shifting.

I wrote this below on the mini2.com forums about the problems I had with a Renault laguna, as a guy had posted about aggressive downshifting in a MCSa.

The first step I would take is to reset the addaption, by disconnecting the battery for an hour, this might work, check first what other things you may affect by disconnecting the battery, code for radio, elec sunroof & windows may have to be set again, settings for climate control etc, like I say this car is new to us so not sure what it will affect.
If this doesn't work then the BMW dealer would be my next step for the software update (if there is one).

As for the ATF this maybe a little more difficult as there doesn't seem to be a lot of info about the procedure of draining and refilling the TF60SN automatic, if you ask at BMW you will prob get the same answer I got from Renault about the laguna "its filled for life sir you dont need to change it" that is b@ll@x.
I dont know what sort of mileage your car has done but if its above 30k I would look at getting it changed.
With the laguna I had to do 5 drain and refills doing about 2-300 miles between refills as you can't get all the fluid out in one go, it holds about 7.5 ltr with half of that being in the torque converter which can't be drained, as it was I had to suck out ( with a aquavac) 3.3ltr at a time through the dipstick tube, there are no external ATF cooler lines, it has a heat exchanger on top of the box which engine coolant passes through as it is with the mini TF60SN, so I couldn't flush the system as you can with the aisin boxes on some of the volvo cars, so it was a bit of a pain to do, but worth it .

Now as far as I can tell the mini box has no dipstick tube, it seems to have a drain plug & fill plug plus a overflow pipe, but I am not 100% sure where these are located on the mini box.

As for the lubegard I used the platinum, think it was about a 250ml bottle, its enough to treat about 8ltr of ATF, do a search for it and read about it see what you think its spelt lubegard
Another thing you could check are the engine and gearbox mounts as these will tend to exaggerate harsh gear changes if they are worn.

Now the ATF its mobil jws 3309 spec its mineral based and its factory fill for a lot of the newer aisin boxes used by Toyota, Saab, Volvo,vauxhall, plus many others, I dont know how much BMW would charge for a litre of this but I wouldn't pay any more than £6 a litre, they all get it from Mobil or Esso slap the BMW, Saab, Volvo, logo on the bottle and hike the price up, I got mine from a vauxhall dealer and got for a shade over £5 a litre as I was getting 16 litres, the guy in parts dept said it should be over £7, prob BMW will want about £20 for the stuff .

 

I just did this today. I am bummed to say I only got 2.5 quarts out, once again. It didn't matter how I lifted the car (on the front, on one side, etc), I think that's all that you will get out of the pan. Either way, it is amazing how well it shifts now. I think I will do this drain and fill a third time because the second drain, although the fluid looked better, there wasn't a major difference in terms of color, still dark and still mostly opaque :(
I can almost not feel the shifts now. I watch the tach, the revs just drop. There is no gear engagement/disengagement felt and it grabs them right away. The tranny has re-learned the shifting pattern and there are no slips between gears. It feels great!

All in all, it is very easy to do the drain/fill, just a bit intimidating at first. I spent more time hunting for the fill bolt which I dropped on the engine block than anything else. This time it took be about 45 minutes to do, out of which about 10 are spent staring at the ATF while draining and filling it through the fill hole.

I will be sending the sample I pulled for an analysis and will let you all know when the results come back.

Anyone care to help me do the math how much old vs new fluid I have?
I pulled 2.5 quarts out of the 6 the first time. That's 41.666%
Let's assume the fluid was perfectly mixed.
Second drain, another 2.5 quarts out, which 50% was old, 50% new.
In go another 2.5 quarts.
So how much old, how much new? I'm too tired now and have a headache, so I'll leave it for later :D


Later edit: I don't think shift learning works by disconnecting the battery. Here is why. Mini outlines work on the tranny, states to disconnect the battery first and foremost. After the tranny work has been complete, it states to reset the TCU (transmission control module) via the dealer scan tool. The shifting learning will be re-initialized. They would not outline this step if a battery disconnect would take care of it. It is not a big deal because the TCU constantly adapts the shift logic, so it will learn on it's own over a few drive cycles. I would only worry about resetting it at the dealer if it was behaving WAY weird.

 

Tools needed:
-Socket extensions
-Allen 5
-T-55 torx
-Philips head
-Flathead screwdriver
-Funnel
Raise your car on stands or a ramp as if you were to drain the oil. The best thing to do is jack up the left (as you are facing the car) as far higher than the right as you can. The goal is to get as much of the ATF to be sitting near the drain bolt, which is at the back upper right corner of the pan.
1. (pic1)Choose your ATF and get a shallow drain pan
2. (pic2)Unclamp the intake hose
3. (pic3)The location of the fill plug is pictured here

 

4. (pic4)Get the Torx and the extensions attached
5. (pic5)If your ratched looks like this, you are golden
6. Slide your hand through deep in there on the right side of the intake hose and take the bolt out. Better yet, if you have a strong magnet, stick it on the torx bit
7. (pic7)This is what the fill bolt looks like

 

8. (pic8)Another view of the fill plug
9. Get under the car, remove the plastic undertray
10. (pic9)You should now be in clear view of the drain plug, circled red in the picture. Stick the Allen key on it and unscrew it
11. Let the ATF drain
12. Once done draining, stick the long end of the Allen key gently until it catches the stand pipe, unscrew it and take it out. Careful, a bunch more ATF will gush out. Important! Measure exactly how much ATF you got out. In my case, I got a total of 2.5 quarts out. What comes out must go in, in order to maintain proper ATF level from factory. If you suspect you have had a leak or want to make 100% sure you have the proper ATF level, then keep reading, this will be in the last post.
13. (pic10)Picture of the drain bolt with the crush washer. After doing the last drain/fill, replace this for peace of mind and assurance you will not develop an ATF leak. Your dealer should stock it, if not the size in milimeters is 17X12X2.

 

12.(pic11) Picture of the stand pipe. It is plastic. Be gentle. Do not cross-thread or overtorque. Just get it hand-tight when putting it back on, it's not like it's going anywhere.
13.(pic12) If you want to get an idea what the ATF looked like at 70K miles versus new, here is a picture for reference. (this picture was taken of the ATF that came out of my Subaru at 45K miles but the color is exactly the same).
14.(pic13) Just because I'm super nice an thorough, here is a picture of the funnel that worked for me. I got it at Walmart and the reason it was ideal was because it was very tight against the fill plug. If there is ANY room around it, you will get ATF to seep out instead of go in the tranny and you will make a mess. The funnel is called Spill Saver by FloTool. Shove it in there and then rotate it about half turn.
15. Fill with ATF, same quantity that came out. Be patient, it goes in very slow
Another tool suggested is the Flotool Super Multi-Purpose Funnel, which has a longer neck and will take more fluid plus it is easier to pour in. It is grey and Advance Auto Parts should carry it. Here is a link, which may or may not become invalid as time goes by.
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...N3322_T%7CGRPD
Thanks BlimeyCabrio for the suggestion!

And that's about it! The total capacity is 6 quarts. I did 2 drain and fills and on the second drain the ATF was still fairly dark. The second drain is what made the biggest difference in shifting for me. I can barely feel the gear engagements now. It is smooth sailing.

 

If you want to re-check you have the proper ATF level:
-the car needs to be sitting perfectly flat. You CAN do this without raising it at all, especially if you have a shallow drain pan that you can shove under there
-start the car, make sure it is in Park!
-ATF needs to be between 35*C and 45*C, which is 95-113*F. This also applies to the one you will pour in. Yes, you have to warm it up, just let it sit in hot water. When the ATF is cold, the level drops. Too hot and the level will be at full max. It needs to sit somewhere in between on the dipstick that doesn't exist on the Mini tranny. The tranny instead uses the internal standpipe for this procedure instead. I think you are beginning to understand where all this is going. Without the proper diagnostic tool to measure ATF temp, it is a crapshoot but nobody says you can't be creative! Grab a kitchen thermometer, you could use it in the next step
-unscrew the drain bolt. Does ATF come out?
--If not, then pour in the warm ATF until it starts coming out. When it does, stick the thermometer and take a reading. If it is WAY hotter than 113 or WAY cooler than 95, you might want to either let the car cool, or idle longer. Once it starts pouring, stop filling it in and cycle through all the gear positions (go P,R,D and then back to P) for at least 2 seconds in each position. Add more ATF until it starts coming out again and you are done!
--If ATF does start coming out, double-check to make absolutely sure the car is sitting level and take a temp reading like I suggested above. I would let it drain until it stops because you may have an overflowed transmission and just follow the steps above when filling it back up.

Just remember, the temperature is sort of important because you are aiming roughly for the middle of the dipstick (standpipe).

 

U R a god among men. I've been waiting over a year for someone to do this and document it properly. Need to do mine soon and see if it helps my occasional 3-4 shift slip. I plan to do 2-3 drains and fills as described to get most of the fluid changed. I have a replacement strainer, but probably won't drop the pan and install it, since it seems much easier to do it without that. I was baffled at how the standpipe worked, but now that is perfectly clear. THANKS.

 

This procedure sounds exactly like how I do ATF drain/refills on my VW New Beetle, which has the notoriously unreliable 01M 4sp auto ... also claimed to have "lifetime" fluid by VW.

To check the temp, all you need is an accurate infrared thermometer or a traditional flat, plastic one that can be taped onto the oil pan. I use a Suunto. On my Bug, it usually takes about 5-7 minutes to reach the specified range. I shift through all the gears first, put in N or P, then check the level.

BTW, I've done 3 drain/refills for my Bug at every 50k. Each time only 50% of the fluid is drained, so there's always old ATF in the tranny. All I can say is it still works at 174k. In November '09, I did a 2k trip to Oregon and just did a 1k trip to Yosemite last week. It's seen everything from 40-100*F+ dessert heat to 8000 ft elevation climb. Here's hoping it'll run to 300k!

 

Glad to help! IMHO I would do at least 2 drain/fills, if not 3. If you do one, you will have about 40% new fluid. If you do 2, you will have about 64% new fluid. The 3rd one will seal the deal
All that remains now is for us to find a source for those crush washers.

 

Fishbone, thanks for the great writeup and photos.
When I had a 1992 Honda Civic with a 4 speed automatic, the Honda factory service manual called for 3 drain and fills to change the transmission fluid. I think they specified a 10 minute drive between changes.

 

Yep I 2nd that, Great writeup Fishbone, thanks.

I see you went for the fully synthetic ATF, just wondering if the BMW stuff is the mobil synthetic or is it just the mineral mobil jws 3309.
I am just a bit worried why ours would be thumping into gear somtimes (2nd) when its only got 24k miles on the clock, maybe the transmission has overheated at some stage I know this can shorten the life of the ATF.

just wondering which to go for now, the mineral & drain it more frequent & poss add lubegard, or go for the fully syth ATF.

I contacted one of the mobil oil depots not far from where I live when doing the laguna, they told me that on their spec sheet jws 3309 mineral oil was down as factory fill for a lot of auto transmissions from various vehicle manufactures, when I asked if I could puchase the atf from them I was told it would be min order of a 200 litre drum at about £1000