When Is A DCT Fluid & Filter Service Due? BMW E90 M3 E92 & E93

When should you change the fluid on your DCT transmission?

Hi I’m Neil with Oceanside Motorsports and today we’re talking about DCT transmissions and their recommended fluid service.

The DCT transmission is installed in performance vehicles like these E90 and E92 M3’s behind me. You know you have a DCT if you have the paddle shifters on your steering wheel and you car makes shifts in 80 milliseconds. These M3’s have a 7 speed DCT transmission installed and they’re both due for a fluid service to keep it operating at its peak.

Unfortunately this fluid is known as a lifetime fluid meaning its designed to be left in for the lifetime of the transmission. Whether your transmission dies at 50k miles or 200k miles technically the fluid lasted its lifetime. The true service interval for those of us who don’t want to replace these transmissions is between 30 to 50k miles depending on driving conditions.

There are two services available - one that replaced both filters in the transmission and just a drain and fill. Either of these are better than nothing so at least choose one of them! For the drain and fill we use either factory or Mutul DCT fluid and reset the adaptations. The adaptation reset is very important for any customers who experience a drivability problem. Both of these cars have shifts that are not very smooth and one is jerky when accelerating from a stop. The fluid service and adaptation reset will take care of both of these concerns.

If these were my cars I would perform the Filter and fluid changes every 30k miles but some of our customers choose to do the filter changes every other service which is also acceptable. So they do a fluid service at about 50k miles and the whole filter change at 100k.

This is how you keep an M3 operating in peak condition and prevent major failures of expensive components. This service can be done within one day, we can provide a loaner car while its here and we typically guarantee any other work we perform with a lifetime warranty.

I’m Neil with Oceanside Motorsports and I can’t wait to meet you!