Car: '95 M3
So I replaced all the hoses/lines and reservoir for the PS. Connected everything back and was curious how to get all of the old fluid out before I add new fluid? Is there a drain screw somewhere or do I remove one of the banjo bolts? Or do I refill, drain, then fill again to get the old stuff out?
Second Q, I see people recommending redline atf, mobil 1 atf, some say chf (which btw is $55/can at my local napa store), and others saying any atf should work just flush at least once a year. One thread had someone switch from valvoline atf to castrol atf. What would you recommend today in 2021? Napa has febi, eneos, royal purple, valvoline, and chf (might have more but I was at a smaller store). I haven't made it out to some of the other stores but will if I have to.
Thanks for the help!
I've always disconnected lines at the pump and turned a pump by hand a few revolutions to get old fluid out.
I use Valvoline synthetic atf in my obd2 cars, I don't know if obd1 had a different pump or not.
Q1: no drain, most of us just drain from the banjo bolt.
Q2: haha - you'll get every recommendation under the sun, so good luck parsing that! I figure good quality is good enough - this isn't worth chasing to the nth degree. Icurrently have Mobile 1 full synthetic ATF - it's good and widely available. My car is a DD so I prefer using stuff that is commonly available if possible.
Of course, Blackstone will tell you the same thing about engine oil, but that's a discussion that's gone far past the nth degree many times.
Thanks, I picked up Valvoline but haven't put any fluid in yet as I want to check out the other shops to see what they offer. Hopefully it works on obd1 as well.
Roger that. I did a search and almost everyone recommends what they're using. I guess the key is to keep it clean so maybe a yearly flush is good preventative maintenance.
Thanks guys!
Mobil 1 ATF in the race cars works fine, so should work great in a street car
as long as the fluid is formulated to be within Dexron III or equivalent it is fine. on a side note, take care of that Power Steering pump on the 95's. They are NLA (even remanufactured) because ZF sold their P/S division a while ago. When mine crapped out, I literally bought the last remanufactured one in BMW's stock and that was 3 years ago.
I just replaced all my power steering hoses and reservoir as it was leaking horribly and whining when I purchased the car. I was hoping the sound would get better with new fluid and it did slightly, but it still has that subtle whine. I think it will need to be replaced in the near future. The fluid I ended up using was Pentosin CHF-11S.
if its a subtle whine, I would say it is salvageable. Needs a seal rebuild which they still do sell. Brett (Braymond) has a good write up on this. I would flush the CHF-11s with traditional ATF as our systems were never designed for that fluid. Only latter bimmers like the the e90s
Wow, good to know but not so good to know. What do we do if/when it is unrepairable? I'm sure someone has already gone down this road.
Same here, but only the lines were leaking. For comparison, how much did you pay for the chf-11s? It's $55 at my local napa, insane.
I think I paid around $20 on FCP Euro for the Pentosin.
there are still remanufactured one sold by non-brand sellers on ebay or autozone but I wouldn't trust them.
you can probably still by used ones (p/n 32412227197) but they are coming far and few in between and now go for as much as a remanufactured one used to go for.
the P/S pump is unique to the s50/s52. So it is not like you can pick one out from a standard m50/m52
Last edited by bmwstephen; 10-19-2021 at 12:15 PM.
32412227197, was used on all E36M3, 1995 thru 1999. Though there no longer seems to be remanufactured units, much less new units available. As mentioned there is a seal kit available, 32411135880 gasket set vane pump ZF.
Unfortunately there is a different power steering mounting offset found in the Oil Filter Housings of the 1995 - 1999 M3 S50/S52; 1992 - 1995 E34 and E36 M50 (USA & EURO) and 323/328
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Last edited by bluptgm3; 10-20-2021 at 12:42 AM.
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