Gearbox Oil

[aimlessrock]

Folks, am planning on changing the gearbox oil (manual) on my 320i Cabby (pre-facelift).

I have read the Haynes manual and they have advised that some models use ATF in the gearbox??...is this correct?

Is their anyway of checking?

Most puzzled!

Thanks

Gary

[tha881]

Hi Gary,

this is what it tells you in the original owners manual -

'"brand name 'SAE 80' gear oil to ' mil-l-2105 a' or api-gl 4' specification'

that applies to all manual boxes

[tha881]

and you will need 1.15 litres of it too, what a bstard!

[aimlessrock]

Thanks mate....appreciate your comments, i am already armed with my SAE, ...ATF!!!...must be an error

[balilu91]

i believe atf is for automatic boxes only

[capri_rob]

you can use ATF in a manual box - lots of threads on this - for example :

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... tf+gearbox

[aimlessrock]

hmmm, thanks Rob....thats interesting.

I can see the remarks re smother gear change etc, but surely due to its more viscous nature ATF would need changing more regularly??

hmmm...not sure whats best now ATE or SAE?...the cabb will only do low miles (summer only)!

[Brianmoooore]

If the gearbox is in good condition, stick with the specified SAE oil. It's common for a worn E30 gearbox to become stiff to change between the lower gears when cold, and changing to ATF will help with this, albeit at the expense of a more 'rattly' box.
The manual gearboxes used in later models to the E30 started to use certain metals that are corroded by mineral oils, so these boxes must be filled with ATF only.

[Andyboy]

E46's went back to MTF (manual transmission fluid) from introduction in 1998 but a weird blend. I've put EP75/90 synthetic in mine to cure the horrid gearbox rattle at idle (which largely it has). The shift is a little obstructive 1st to 2nd when stone cold but soon warms up.

[aimlessrock]

thanks for the input chaps, I think I will stick with SAE..the box is in good nick.