Your prose on item 3 lost me....but I think I understand what you are thinking. I have not changed the pan for that very reason. I want the extra capacity. I did; however, change the fluid itself at 100k miles. That way, I have 7 quarts of new oil....I just have an old filter.

 

Mechatronic seal adsptor not necessary. If you do it you have to remove the valve body.

Plastic bag, I'm not sure. I put right stuff on both mating surfaces, stuck gasket on Trans and maneurvered pan in.

Capacity is your call. There is more clearance with the metal pan.

Good luck

 

I like everything about the metal pan but was wondering about the reduced capacity. I don't know enough about it to make a call.

Hoping one of you guys might know. Maybe loosing 1 quart is not a big deal. could you use 2 quarts? 3 quarts? I mean at some point capacity has to matter.

Maybe with 7 quarts the oil runs at 60c but at 6 quarts it runs a 80c and degrades 3 times faster.

I don't know enough to make a call.

But it seems that pan is good enough for many cars, I assume the BMW with the same tranny has 1 less quart than the LR3.

I think the larger stock size could be installed without lifting the engine if the filter was not part of the pan.

If the current stock pan had a separate filter do you think it could be put on without needing to jack the engine up 3"

 

what does the adaptor do? (Mechatronic)

I'm thinking I need
1. New pan
2. Filter
3. Gasket
4. Oil
5. shorter screws (do you lock tite these?)
6. ?? BMW Mechatronics Sealing Sleeve? - this looks like a big plug, not sure what it does or if needed.

 

So thats it? Not one person here knows that if dropping the transmission oil by 1 quart is a issue? They just crossing fingers and hopes its ok?

Anyone call ZF on this to find out?

 

Sorry, I don't know for sure, but I would doubt it would make much of a difference for normal daily driving. Now if you're towing 7,500 pounds consistently, maybe it's a different story...

 

Call them and let us know.

 

The bag was used to keep the pan and gasket together and clean while maneuvering and get in it place. Once in place, I pull the bag out as I installed the screws. I did not want to put RTV or Right Stuff on the gasket, so the bag helped me put the pan and gasket in place at the same time.

As for the 1 quart difference I am not sure if it is real. The plastic pan apparently was a redesign to save weight and production cost. At any rate, others that I read of did not seem to have a problem. I only tow once in a blue moon at most, so it does not matter.

 

LOl, Ok thanks for electing me. I will try and will let you know

Well I do tow a I/O Speedboat 300 miles on weekends. So want to make sure before I swap out the pans.

 

I replied to your other post so I don't want to duplicate info...

The metal pan swap is very popular in Australia, and they have pretty extreme climate and do not baby their trucks. They just change the fluid more often, which is why I am adopting a 50k service interval.

I don't have my old pan anymore so can't go measure, but it sure did not look to me like the dimensions were very different .. Let alone to allow 1 qt less capacity. And I got 4.5qt out and 4.5 qt in. Can't answer how much of mine leaked out before I swapped.

If you are local to SoCal, come check out my DIY handiwork!

Call thectsc.com .. They know these transmissions and may be able to answer more of your questions.

Good luck!