BEV E-Motor transmission/differential Oil - change?

[TurboPrius]

How do you know that the exact gearbox fluid capacity is 500ml or 0.5 liters max?

Did you measure the drained fluid?

You see.... There is a lot of informaiton out there about the capacity in this e-drive transmissions.

Some say 1.5 liters others 1.0 liters and you say 0.5 liters

Who is right?

Is it possible that the capacity changed from the 60Ah versions to the 120Ah versions or the REX versions?

I am planning to change the gearbox oil myself. Thanks you for the tip of filling the new oil trough the breather vent on top of the gearbox.

I have the Facelift 2018 BMW i3 with the 94Ah battery and no REX.

[parmijo]

TurboPrius- Did you get a chance to change the transmission oil? Wondering how it went.

[spartacus68]

Just found this. A little narration wouldn't have gone amiss!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4lDSFHXVGXM

With the drive shaft out, just wondering if there's any eccentric bolts for toe in or out adjustment?

[Arm]

I'm looking into seeing if the dealer will do this for me...and how much. My E-tran is a little on the louder side than I like...almost sounds like sand paper at low speeds. That doesn't mean it's gone bad as I feel no issues with it. But if they can change the oil, great. I have almost 48k miles on my car.

[deniska1]

I did the differential fluid change myself earlier today (2018 i3s BEV). I drained exactly 500 ml. The entire procedure was super simple and straightforward. Took me about an hour. Later model years don’t have a fill plug, so you have to either follow the BMW shop manual and fill the diff by removing the drive shaft or like I did it through the breather valve. The procedure is very similar to changing the fluid in a manual transmission, so no need to measure the temp of the fluid etc…

[alohart]

I did the differential fluid change myself earlier today (2018 i3s BEV).

How far had your i3 been driven? How did the drained transaxle fluid look? I guess with no magnetic drain plug, metal filings would not be collected anywhere. However, did you see any in the drained fluid?

Correction: A magnetic drain plug exists but there's no filler plug.

BMW doesn't seem to recommend a transaxle fluid change at any driving distance or after any time period. That along with the removal of the drain plug suggests that BMW doesn't expect the fluid to be changed ever. Do you feel that your transaxle fluid needed to be changed?

[deniska1]

The mileage is 44K and the fluid looked bad to say the least… the plug does have a magnet though, so it did collect a lot of metal particles that would otherwise would circulate inside. You definitely wanna do the service unless you don’t plan on keeping the car for long. Even with the magnet collecting most of the shavings the fluid will eventually turn into acid with a bunch of metal particles circulating inside and it will destroy the internal components of the gearbox (bearings and gears)..

[eXodus]

thanks for sharing your experience.

Something I'm probably going to do soon. Where did you buy the oil? Dealer?

[Arm]

I did the differential fluid change myself earlier today (2018 i3s BEV). I drained exactly 500 ml. The entire procedure was super simple and straightforward. Took me about an hour. Later model years don’t have a fill plug, so you have to either follow the BMW shop manual and fill the diff by removing the drive shaft or like I did it through the breather valve. The procedure is very similar to changing the fluid in a manual transmission, so no need to measure the temp of the fluid etc…

Shame you didn't take photos or make a video of the process

[o2cool4g63]

I did the oil change too at 14k and its filthy. def not lifetime and no unicorns. took all but 15 min, don't even need to jack up the car. BEV here.