I changed my transmission fluid today at 60,362 miles, Redline MTL. Last change was at 40,245 miles, Redline MTL. The fluid on the left has 20,117 miles on it (hard miles), the fluid on the right is brand new.



Photo quality is poor, but you can see what it looked like. The OEM fluid I drained at 40,245 was dark, but then I didn't know what color it should have been. Redline MTL has a distinct color and smell. The old stuff was way off and smelled nothing like the new fluid.

The point? I'm thinking that 20,000 miles is a good interval for me.

 

I had actually called our local MINI Dealer to change mine this past week, and they said was designed to never have to be changed?? And since I had a Quaife LSD installed, they said they wouldn't do it regardless. Go figure...

so, bottom line is that I want to change it, but does having the Quaife change the type of tranny fluid used??

 

I have a quaife and looked it up on their site. They said that the normal fluid a stock takes is fine. Only a rwd diffs they recommended something else. I also put in Redline MTL. Sure smells nice vs most typical gear oil.

 

Yeah, our cars use GL-4 oil as opposed to GL-5 like a standard diff would. GL-5 is what stinks. That type of oil is needed for the high pressures of the hypoid drive gear in RWD diffs.

 

pffft. it's designed to last the warranty period.

typical BMW. their motorcycle division redesigned the drive shaft and splines to "never" require maintenance. result? widespread failures and very expensive out-of-warranty repairs. after five or six years of that they quietly added a recommendation to re-lube the splines every 30k and stopped claiming "lifetime".

Minis are great cars, but i will never trust any manufacturer's claim that fluids never need changing.

 

Good morning all, i've been using Redline MT90 and change it out
every 25k and have been happy with that change interval.MT90
is slightly thicker than MTL.

 

In the frigid winters here, the thicker MT90 would not work too well.

 

I know I gotta do the same, I've had the redline bottles sitting for a couple of months.

 

We put this stuff in ours and so far have been very impressed. Much better feel in the transmission as well. Have used it in a few customer cars as well some pulling the redline out and every one has commented on the feel being better. Stuff is relatively hard to get though.

 

I currently have about 31k on my '06 MCSa and have also thought about changing the tranny fluid. Does anyone have any pointers on changing the fluid on the '06 automatics? I was also wondering about the fluid. Has anyone used BG transmission fluid?

Good, bad or indifferent comments welcome.

 

My Bentley manual is for the early cars, so I can't help you.

 

The manuel for my automatic says it is life time tranny fluid and it doesnt need to be changed. I find that hard to believe. Doe's anyone have a DIY for changing tranny fluid out?

 

If you bend the heat sheild a bit you can see it. I just put Redline D6ATF

 

This was supplied with my Cusco diff when I bought it. So I will be running it when the diff is in. (2 weeks time).