Diff Service on Euro Spec E36 M3

[Mr M3]

Hi Gents, I managed to get the diff service done over the weekend.
This was a pretty easy job compared to the guys who own the U.S. variant.
The drain and fill location on these is in a well thought out manner unlike the other where clearance is very limited for the refill plug. Sheesh !
Positioning the car to get it level takes some time, but once that was achieved it was full steam ahead.
14mm Allen socket required.
Having removed the fill plug first, the oil level was fine as there was a small trickle coming out.
Then I released the drain plug I let it drain for around 30 mins to ensure maximum drainage. (what's the hurry ?)
After this, I cleaned the fill and drain plugs and the mating surfaces, refit the drain plug and proceed to fill with Castrol Syntrax 80w-140 untill it trickled out.
Plugged the refill plug and that was it.

[Mr M3]

More Pics. Can only upload 5 at a time it seems.

[MParallel]

Nice. Was the car also level in the transverse orientation?

How's your SMG holding up?

[Mr M3]

Yes the car was level both ways.
The SMG has been faultless during my 12 years of ownership. The SMG pump was replaced twice under warranty in the initial stages of ownership for the original purchaser (Have all his receipts) and since then it's performed without any issues.
Just before I purchased it, I had the car inspected by BMW who interrogated everything including the SMG system and discovered the accumulator was almost at hte end if it's life so they replaced it. Seller paid for it. So I was pretty happy about that. So yes, It's been absolutely 100% trouble free since.

[MParallel]

That’s sweet.

Shame it’s gotten such a bad name.

Still plenty driving around today.

I can highly recommend a pedal shift mod.

[Mr M3]

That’s sweet.

Shame it’s gotten such a bad name.

Still plenty driving around today.

I can highly recommend a pedal shift mod.

You are right. It has gotten a bad name for all the wrong reasons. People have been trying to liken it to a traditional stick shift go off half cocked when they have to realise that it is an automated system and it does what it does quite well considering. Another point of concern is inadequate or poor maintenance which can compromise it's integrity too.
It's either you like it or don't, in which case go for a traditional stick shift.
Myself, I tend to like to like it as it gives you the best of both worlds. When I'm feeling tired, and stuck in traffic, the auto mode is great. I have nothing to prove by having to rev it up and race everything you see. I think it's better suited to mature minded people rather then the boy racer.
I always have said to myself if that someday it should have a catastrophic failure, which I doubt, then I would consider the pedal shift mod.. lol..

[MParallel]

With pedal shift mod, I meant flappy pedals on the wheel, not a clutch pedal, just to be sure.
The way you worded it made me realize my comment could be interpreted like that.

It got a bad rep because even main dealers had no clue how to diagnose faults, which lead to many very expensive and unnecessary repairs. I have read people getting new gearboxes where in the end, the bowden interlock cable was broken.

It’s a good system if looked at in its correct time context. People who compare it to a DCT will obviously dislike it. But that’s 20 years newer tech.

I didn’t specifically wanted SMG, but the car I found was too good to dismiss, just because of SMG.

Then I got to learn and understand the system and it’s no longer something to be afraid of.

[Mr M3]

Lol. I get you now. You meant to say Paddle shift. Pedal shift is floor pedal, what I thought you were trying to say. Language barrier perhaps. All good my friend.

I have to agree with what you said about SMG diagnosis. Perhaps the BMW techs weren't trained enough for it. Our market in Australia is quite small and not so many SMG cars made it here so I can't say the same for the techs of the day for my country. Many years have passed since their introduction and much more knowledge has been gained since then so perhaps it's not so scary now as it was.
I, like you, wasn't looking for SMG, but as it turned out, the nicest car available happened to be SMG and I couldn't turn it down. I still own it after 12 or so years and I'm glad I bought it. It's too good to sell. I'll never find another one as good believe me. Not here in my country that's for sure.

You seem to have some good knowledge of the SMG system. I don't really to be honest. You tend to learn when things break, but fortunately for me it hasn't broken and knock on wood, hope it never does.
Do you have any literature for the SMG system that might be of use to me ?
Would be a good time to really familiarize myself with the inner workings seeing I own one.

[MParallel]

Lol. I get you now. You meant to say Paddle shift. Pedal shift is floor pedal, what I thought you were trying to say. Language barrier perhaps. All good my friend.

I have to agree with what you said about SMG diagnosis. Perhaps the BMW techs weren't trained enough for it. Our market in Australia is quite small and not so many SMG cars made it here so I can't say the same for the techs of the day for my country. Many years have passed since their introduction and much more knowledge has been gained since then so perhaps it's not so scary now as it was.
I, like you, wasn't looking for SMG, but as it turned out, the nicest car available happened to be SMG and I couldn't turn it down. I still own it after 12 or so years and I'm glad I bought it. It's too good to sell. I'll never find another one as good believe me. Not here in my country that's for sure.

You seem to have some good knowledge of the SMG system. I don't really to be honest. You tend to learn when things break, but fortunately for me it hasn't broken and knock on wood, hope it never does.
Do you have any literature for the SMG system that might be of use to me ?
Would be a good time to really familiarize myself with the inner workings seeing I own one.

No language barrier here, just a typo I made, but didn't realize it. Not much in between paddle and padel, but its meaning is. I definitely don't want to do the pedal mod.

Luckely mine hasn't broken down (yet) but since it's so low milage, I expect *knock on wood* it won't for many years to come with the amount I drive. But you never know of course.
But I have a few friends with also SMG1 cars and we combined our experience and others have taken apart components.

It's not bad tech at all. But its achilles heel is the plastic insulation on the motor. This with the motor being right next to the hot exhaust manifold, these over times melts the insulation and the motor shorts out.

With SMG2 now also coming to age, you see this system suffers just as much. Maybe even more as it has the well known relay error (salmon relay) but that's an easy fix. And with SMG2 being more popular, there are now replacement motors available. I tried to have them offer it for SMG1 as well, but the market was not economical for them.

Having said that, just as an alternator or starter motor, any electric shop that rebuilds these, should have no problem rebuilding the SMG1 motor. And with proper insulator, it should last longer than the original. We all have spare units so in case ours break down, we replace the motor, while the broken one can be repaired.

I even thought of adding some cold air ducting to force cold air to it (like on the non-M alternator cooling) but no idea if this would help.

Send me a PM with your info. I have the original BMW SMG1 training document.