Best Transmission Fluid

[M3mike]

My e46 m3 is probably 95% street. Refreshing the transmission fluid. What should I go with oem or redline d4/MTL or mixture of the two redlines?

[Tbonem3]

75w80 gl4 1.8l
Oe bmw
pentosin
ravenol
or some single weight from motul, amsoil et al

[Ceelooboob]

I primarily drive my M3 on the street and the OEM fluid has been great. No complaints.

[Will]

I did not like D4ATF in the gearbox. Felt like it grinded more frequently, and after 10k miles shifting feel dropped off. I changed for fresh D4ATF at 10k and it wasn't much better. Went back to OEM Pentosin and it feels good again.

[beefaroni]

I did not like D4ATF in the gearbox. Felt like it grinded more frequently, and after 10k miles shifting feel dropped off. I changed for fresh D4ATF at 10k and it wasn't much better. Went back to OEM Pentosin and it feels good again.

Im about to switch from D4 ATF to Pentosin MTF-2. It really takes a lot of temperature in the gearbox before things arent crunchy and im hoping that goes away/improves. I will report back.

[s54wagon]

What do you guys use for a transmission flush before you change the fluid?

[Feffman]

What do you guys use for a transmission flush before you change the fluid?

You don't really flush a manual transmission. It's simply a thorough drain (I let it drip overnight) and then refill with the proper fluid.

[Phoenix///M3]

Go for the Pentosin that Feffman has posted above. I just switched from Redline MTF to Pentosin and it shifts like butter. Never liked the Redline.

[Onefastsicilian]

OE fluid...

[Obioban]

OE BMW MTF LT2 or Pentosin MTF2 if you can find any new old stock.

[Cbouts]

Not trying to fan flames here, BUT... reviews or thoughts on RP Synchromax?

[Paul M3]

OE....

[Obioban]

Not trying to fan flames here, BUT... reviews or thoughts on RP Synchromax?

garbage.

[beefaroni]

Followup: Last night I changed out the Redline D4 ATF which had about 2000 miles on it for some Pentosin MTF-2. When I first bought the car, all 1-2 shifts and most 2-3 shifts were impossible without double clutching for the first few minutes of driving in colder weather. Changing to Redline D4 ATF helped significantly to where shifting was always possible but I had to be delicate for a few minutes until things warmed up to avoid crunchy no good sounds and feels.

This morning is a cold morning (35 F) and the cold performance is better than D4 ATF. Im sure the performance and smoothness will drop off after a couple hundred miles like it always seems to but the Pentosin has things running much better. The shift quality is almost decent.

I give the Pentosin MTF-2 a big thumbs up

[bigjae46]

I use redline MT90 but I don't drive it on the street. Works good when the trans is warm. I've used D4ATF in the past. It feels good for a couple of weeks and then its really difficult to rev-match downshift.

The best bet is OE fluid. Which is now DCTF? Anyone tried that?