MINI's advise is a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you never change the oil, it will be a lifetime fill on a tranny that will fail prematurely.

Therefore, I've always changed manual and automatic tranny fluids (latter includes removing the pan to change the fluid filter) on all my BMWs and MINIs at ~50K miles.

The oldest of my bimmers went was 250K miles on the originally tranny before I sold it (engine and diff were also original, and running fine).
All my and my better half's automatic vehicles somehow got totalled from minor fender-benders (easy to do with older vehicles) before they reached 150K miles (slush boxes are great for commuting). These are my personal data points.

YMMV,
a

 

Below are the pictures of the oil fill screw.
First two show the screw location and the Walmart fill funnel that works particularly well: long and thin enough to fit into the opening. I screwed the oil funnel into the fill holes threads to keep it in place, and minimize the spillage.

The last picture is the relative positioning of the tranny and fill hole in the engine compartment. I know, mine looks a little ... disassembled (long story), but you should be able to see your tranny fluid fill hole after you remove coolant fill tank and the air intake plastic piping that sit on top of the tranny.

BTW, after removing the pan and oil filter and leaving it drip for ~7 days while I was working on the engine, I got exactly 4 quarts out of the old Aisin tranny. The longer you let it drip, the more fluid will you get out!

a

 

I'm kind of freaking out here, I drained the old stuff and filled my transmission with Redline 75W80 and found out I should be using MTL-LT4 (75W90) which I might ask is 40% percent more viscous than Redline 75W80. Redline MT-90 is 20% percent less viscous than MTL-LT4 75W90! Is there a reason why I shouldn't be freaking out?

Shifting is silky smooth but am worried about gear protection and fluid temp!

 

According to the Redline web site, the MTL 75W80 is the recommended oil for MINIs. What is your source that says that is the incorrect oil to use?

 

i doubt it'll matter unless you're racing. if you are, wouldn't be a bad idea to consider changing fluid soon.

i would stay away from redline stuff in general though. a friend of mine who rebuilds transmissions for a living isn't crazy about it. slick shifting doesn't mean well protected.

without getting into too much detail, one problem is that one of the additives is basically teflon - good for feel, but the particles tend to centrifuge out and clog the input shaft. that's his words, not mine, i am no engineer and certainly no fluid engineer. he said a few other things about it of which I have no recollection lol

 

now that i think about it some more, that might just be regarding the "shockproof" series, which is pretty common for evos to use. looks like they do have 75w90 GL4 oil, which is pretty much spec http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=46&pcid=7

 

Dave at Redline stated they don't have any transmission oil that could be used for a transmission calling for MTL-LT4. He also stated that even his MT-90 is 20% less viscous than BMW's 75W90 MTL-LT4.

 

should be fine.. as long as its a 75w90 GL4 you should be good. Redline's 75w90 seems pretty thick (similar to a 10w40 vs a 10w30). It's just BMW's naming convention, Amsoil doesn't have a recommendation either but when you get into it it's just a GL4 75w90

 

I just wasted almost $100 buying the 75W80 when what I needed was 75W90. I'm thinking about getting the BMW 75W90 MTL LT4 which is 20% percent more viscous than Redline's 75w90.

 

If it was me I would just use the BMW MTL LT4. Ive talked to amsoil about this also they told me that they don't have anything that would work. Even though they felt I could use something similar they said they wouldn't recommend it. But one thing they did also say is do not use anything teflon based. good luck!

 

The mobil 1 is 75w-90, I'm very happy with it. Car has 100k now, no complaints.

 

I agree, I believe the MTF LT translates into Life Time, so it seems any GL4 75W90 is fine as long as you understand that it's not life time transmission oil. Does anyone know how smooth shifting is after using a fresh bottle of BMW's MTF Life Time 75W90 oil?

 

^ exactly. can't help you out as far as how smooth shifting a fresh bottle of BMW's MTF fluid will be - but I can say it will probably be marginal/can't tell too much. I've swapped that fluid out twice, once in an 08 MINI with 90k miles, the other time in my new '13 with 2k miles - both times an increase in smoothness was marginal at best - and that was going to Amsoil, which according to your sources is less viscous than BMWs. In other words, I wouldn't expect much difference.

 

I am about to change mine with some Motul when I install my new LSD. That is assuming that FedEx finds out what the hell happened to my package.

 

That sounds like fun! More like a nightmare.

 

I accidentally drain my manual transmission by mistakes and ohhh boy expensive.. From dealership in honolulu it cost $43.00 per quarts and needs less than 3 quarts in all, plus they dont sell by the quarts they sell by the gallon, 12 years old transmission oil just like BRAND new, i wouldnt recommend changing at all.

 

My dealer in California just under $18 for half a quart, yes you read that correctly! The only reason why anyone would charge this much for dealer trans oil is extreme greed! I don't know how transmission oil can last that long, it breaks down just like all oil. How many miles did you have over the 12 years?

 

You'll be surprised small island but 100,000 milesfor over 10 years, we go Holo-holo! ( meaning cruising).

 

I can attest to the Hawaii Holo holo. I bought my MINI in Hawaii. Also I am not doing the clutch and lsd myself. I am having out don't by a Mechanic. I learned my lesson with fwd clutch swaps. It ****ing sucks.

Sent from me being awesome around my MINI!!

 

My MCS had the flywheel and all clutch components replaced yesterday, I also ordered the OEM trans fluid from ESC Tuning. kyoo and ZIPPY "S" you have convinced me to go BMW MTF-LT4 OEM trans fluid, I just spent $3200 on my transmission and want peace of mind.

 

Systemlord I think that's your best bet to go that route. Im an amsoil junkie but when I talked to them there just isn't anything a 100% to spec that BMW recommends.

 

yea i run amsoil 75w90 but can't go wrong with oem spec

 

Thing is going with what BMW recommends you know it's the safest route especially when you have an 6-Year (5 years now) extended warranty! I'm trying to avoid trouble and peace of mind means a lot to me! I just spent $3200 on my transmission, don't want more trouble.

Well I finally picked up my MCS today, boy did it need a clutch job. When I finished paying for the work I went to drive my Mini, put my foot on the clutch pedal and holy hell I thought the dealer screwed up the hydraulic system. Pushing in the clutch pedal was so easy I thought something was seriously wrong. I remember it requiring much more force to get the clutch pedal in, my leg would get cramped at a red light, no more!

When I looked at my pressure plate, clutch disk and flywheel all three were super shiny! My clutch disk was worse on the flywheel side, my flywheel had cracked in many places do to the extreme heat. Just have a look! Is this the fault of the parts or the previous owner? I mean what does one have to do to get a clutch to look like mine?

 

Well today I had my Mini mechanic drain the Redline 75W80 transmission oil, then he filled up my transmission with BMW's MTF-LT4 75W90 GL-4 Gear Oil. It did lose a bit of that smooth gear shifting but I expected that anyway.

I will say this though, the BMW gear oil is much thicker than any gear oil I have even seen, more like syrup where the Redline 75W80 is thin by comparison. The BMW MTF-LT4 75W90 GL-4 Gear Oil has enough oil (5 liters) for changing your transmission oil twice, I have exactly 2.5 liters of oil left. It took 2.5 liters to fill, you get the picture.

Just don't buy it at the dealer ($160 dealer/$119 at ESC Tuning), they charge $18 for half a quart! Who out there sells half a quart of anything related to oil?

 

Thread revival.

I thought the two types of MTF weights were to be used in Non-LSD vs LSD cars. (I can't remember which is supposed to go with which)

How would I tell if I have LSD? (aside from jacking it up and slowly spinning the front tire?)

Mine has the orangish-red sticker on it.

I'm at 55k and I'm going to wait until 60k and change it.