Balanced my tires at the shop today and notices a couple of drops from the diff drain plug. I'm planning on changing the diff fluid and was wonder if oem fluid is worth the premium price or is there something else that you guys have used in your car. Turner has both oem and another brand for sale. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Sponsor welcome to reply with some prices and products.
Alot of M3 owners put Royal Purple in the Diff. Depending on your driving style, either 75w90 or 75w140......Climate has some impact on weight as well. The hotter, the thicker. I live in the south, so I went with 140
non-m open's use 75-90 i use that weight with redline and have no complaints always feels good putting new fluid in. don't go oem fluid its pointless and has no benefit .. it comes down to if you want to put in redline or RP i put redline in every place i could. you should try out putting RP in the diff and redline in the tranny I'm sure you will be happy any which way
Please don't make blanket statements. As stated, non-M open diffs and M LSD are different and need different fluid. The FM Booster was added to reduce noise/diff whine. Many M3 owners switched to Redline or RP and noticed add'l whine after few thousand miles, fix = OEM fluid with FM Booster.
OP, your car will work fine with non-OEM fluid but I suggest you use it in case you find non-OEM fluids making un-wanted noise. Changing it once with more $ fluid is still cheaper than changing it twice with non-OEM and then OEM.
Thanks. Anybody kno about the fm booster that's supposed to be in the fluid. Do you have to add it to the redline fluid or just use the redline fluid by itself.
Also does anyone kno how much fluid it takes to fill the diff.
Non-OEM LT2 transmission fluid is fine, almost all of us use it. OEM LT2 comes in large drums and not all dealers will pump out 2 liters for individual sale.
Just did my diff and transmission fluid this past weekend, and to be honest neither looked *that* bad considering... 100k on the clock and I replaced the fluids with OEM. I was actually pretty impressed with how they looked.
Go oem with fm booster. The fm booster reduces the creaking noises by sinking into the clutches, so it's worth the premium price. Anything else and you will get an annoying creaking noise while turning.
I was getting that creaking sound with OEM fluid, switched to RP 75w-140 and the noise went away and has been quite nice to drive. I have put about 1000 miles since. The RP has friction modifier in it already too.
I bet you that creaking noise would have went away with an OEM fluid change too. Heard to many bad stories about RP to ever try it. You've only put 1000 miles on it, Id be willing to bet the noise will be back soon.
Probably would have, but not willing to pay that much for fluid. I did many forum searches and also past experience with RP products. I Machine and build custom racing engines for a living. I have used RP products in the past. The concensus on the forums was to either use RP or RL oil in the diff and tranny....NOT factory stuff as some have suggested in this thread. I know how to use the search function.
if I had an M3, royal purple products wouldn't come anywhere near it..
really - how often do you have to change the diff fluid? maybe 3-4 times over the life of the car? I feel the same way with coolant. Yeah, it's an extra $20 for the BMW stuff - but that's spread out over two years. I've seen the damage from using cheap fluids and it's just not worth it. BMW stuff is formulated exactly for your car, you don't have to guess or hope it will work.
FWIW, I have 391 gears recently installed, they used non OEM diff fluid, and it made noise, added the OEM with FM booster, no more noise, AT ALL! I'm telling you guys, the stuff is unmatched!
i apologize for bumping such an old thread.. but has anyone tried the Redline Limited Slip Friction Modifier?? If so, any thoughts or reviews about it?
I recently changed my diff fluid with RL 75W-140 and i started hearing the whine. My shop recommended this: http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=41&pcid=4
OEM! I used a few years ago and its still good. The BMW limited slip diff is very picky and likes the FM booster...and no you can't by the booster by itself. If you swap the locker, you can use different fluid.
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