this came up in a 1st gen CVT thread, but what do you use? Mini branded ESSO EZL 799A or standard auto transmission oil available at tires plus, valvoline etc?

 

Redline's application guide recommends this one as a substitute for the CVT's Esso oil.
http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?product=30804

 

I replaced my CVT fluid with the Redline one back in April when my car has around 30,000.It was an easy job.And there's been no problems wat so ever since then.I say go with it!

 

Rusty, personally I don' t think anyone knowingly uses regular trans fluid in the CVT on this board. It isn't substituting different spec fluids, it is just plain different fluid.

What I mean is folks who have read up on the forum about the horror stories of the CVT try to give the device all possible advantages in lasting a long time. I bet lots of folks on the street may do it by not knowing better, but folks who pay attention don't want to risk lowering the life expectancy. The down side is too expensive to wing it.

Now mini has very specific oil requirements even distinguishing between different synthetic motor oils. In my opinion, this is no where near as risky to vary and substitute a different spec full synthetic motor oil. The CVT juice isn't this type of substitution though where we are talking about relatively minor differences. Again, since the $$$ is so small and the risk so expensive, there isn't much incentive to cut corners. Finding you are a quart low in the engine on the road and adding something different doesn't constitute much of a risk in my mind, but purposely ignoring the recommendation for no reason just doesn't make much sense.