[vexingv]

I am confused about the part where i have to manually shift through all the gears and hold it while the car is stationary....

I'm looking to get underway in servicing the ZF8 transmission (along with the front/rear diff fluid) in my 2016 M235 XD with 63K miles. I've had the parts for awhile now and have some time to get working using the FCP Euro guides as reference (https://www.fcpeuro.com/blog/how-to-...d-transmission)

I will be doing this project in my driveway on jack stands and I plan to use Bimmerlink to provided trans oil temp. I am confused about the part where i have to manually shift through all the gears and hold it while the car is stationary. I tried doing it earlier, and while i could go from R to D repeatedly, I can only manually shift from M1 to M2, but no higher gears. Am i missing something along the process? Or if the car is on jack stands, either with the wheels on or off, i can "drive" the car while it is up in the air and shift it that way?

In the FCP euro videos, everything seems to be done with the car on the ground. And the instructions in the tutorial simply say to keep the foot on the brake pedal. So i'm not sure how it's done. While they have the convenience of a full lift, I probably will not be dropping the car and then lifting it again. If I had to "drive" the car in the air on jack stands, I'd be a bit concerned about any shaking/movement putting the car potentially off balance putting it at risk of toppling over.

Advice/instructions?
Thanks.

[ferraricare]

You definitely keep it on jack stands and keep your foot on the bake while putting in gear and slowly release the brake. I have done this many time, no issues with shaking.

[Coupsoup]

If your vehicle is not xdrive the front wheels will not be driven so the ABS will freak out and assume you've lost control of the vehicle. If you've only done a transmission service, and not a major repair or overhaul, it is acceptable to do the 1/2 upshift, recheck fluid, then test drive the vehicle and then set the final fluid level.

You could also use dyno mode to fully deactivate the abs system. Just google 'f22 dyno mode'

[vexingv]

Thanks for the responses.

Just to close the loop on this thread/topic. I completed this work last week (along with front, rear diff, transfer case fluid drain & fills...). The project took the course of several hours each morning over 4 days.

this post had some more detailed instructions and screenshots of ISTA itself: https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...1225129&page=2

plus, there is a Kies video that shows the process on-video (FCP one mentions it , but cuts around):

there are also a ton of different/conflicting info depending on source; either ISTA/newtis or from ZF directly. the order of the shifting is different for example as well as torque specs for the new pan screws or even order of torquing screws.

i put the car into DSC off. i decided to go with ZF's instructions for shifting. first by going D/R, then holding throttle to around 2K revs in P. then put it in D and manually shifted M1-M8 while in the air. i had the car on jack stands at each jack point and also put my trolley jack under the front center jack point as another safety. i forgot to hold the brake when i put it in R, and the car alarmed at me a few times (partly because i left the door open) and i heard some clicking/ratcheting noises as it was going back in R -- perhaps the parking pawl or parking brake engaging?

somethings other things i noted. it took awhile for oil to get to temp (i used 30-50 C the as the temp reference range - ZF's instructions and not the 40-50 C range as instructed by FCP videos). i probably only put in close to a little more than 6 liters of fluid in total - cold filled about 3 liters or so, then cracked open the 6th liter but did not really fill it much until it overflowed after doing the manual shifting. for good measure, i did the shifting one more time and checked the level again (of course while still being under 50 deg C) and added a bit more, but it went over right away.

working underneath this car on jack stands is a b!tch. also, due to the 2 series' size/packaging not a whole lot of clearance to work like on videos of other BMWs. i nearly rounded out the 8mm fill screw head on removal using a small socket wrench and 8mm hex bit (was only able to get it at a slight angle since the ratchet head was too big for the clearance) but was fortunate to be able to get it out. i then realized i needed to change my approach and subsequently used a 8mm box wrench.i also freaked out and ordered another fill plug at the dealership since i didnt realize a new one was already included in the kit. given the lack of clearance and that i dont have the official fill plug tool, i couldn't torque the plug back to spec.