[Stew_Pid]

Hi all,

I changed the pan/filter and oil recently and did everything by the ZF manual in terms of the filling procedure however one thing has niggled me ever since. I remember reading on one of the Bimmerpost threads about overfilling by approx 0.5l if the car has an external oil cooler.
Indeed on this Meyle tutorial at 5mins 50 secs he mentions it as well but not specifically how he does this.

I have a 2013 330d xDrive, does this have an external oil cooler? Due to injury I'm not in a position to get under the car currently.
I'm worried that I don't have enough oil in the box...

[F32Fleet]

I'm assuming you mean ATF cooler and no that makes no sense to me.

[BMWILUVU]

Originally Posted by Stew_Pid

Hi all,

I changed the pan/filter and oil recently and did everything by the ZF manual in terms of the filling procedure however one thing has niggled me ever since. I remember reading on one of the Bimmerpost threads about overfilling by approx 0.5l if the car has an external oil cooler.
Indeed on this Meyle tutorial at 5mins 50 secs he mentions it as well but not specifically how he does this.

I have a 2013 330d xDrive, does this have an external oil cooler? Due to injury I'm not in a position to get under the car currently.
I'm worried that I don't have enough oil in the box...

Yours does not have an aux external transmission oil cooler unit.

[Polo08816]

For a sanity check, I would measure how much you drain and it'll give you a good idea of how much you might need to put back.

Of course, this works under the assumption that the previous fill was correct.

[Stew_Pid]

Originally Posted by BMWILUVU

Yours does not have an aux external transmission oil cooler unit.

Really? It has the oil pipes running forward though?

[Stew_Pid]

Originally Posted by F32Fleet

I'm assuming you mean ATF cooler and no that makes no sense to me.

Sorry, what makes no sense?

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by Stew_Pid

Sorry, what makes no sense?

Well if the cooler is on a thermostat then fluid isn't flowing through it. If it's not on a thermostat then fluid is running continuously and the amount of fluid you add to the transmission in order to reach the full mark already accounts for the fluid moving through the cooler.

Make sense?

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by Stew_Pid

Really? It has the oil pipes running forward though?

It's going to the transmission heat exchanger which is mounted vertically near the radiator fan. The transmission heat exchanger has to be unscrewed from the radiator fan assembly (housing) in order to remove the radiator fan.

The ZF 8HP does have a heat exchanger that is not on the body of the transmission. What type of heat exchanger is up to the auto manufacturer as it's designed with the use case of the vehicle in mind.