What type of Transmission fluid to use.

I'm not exactly sure if their is a specific type of transmission fluid to use in my 1989 730i BMW. Yes the car is German spec with an automatic transmission. Also what is the best way to completely drain the transmission as i have read elsewhere that by draining the tranny pan doesnt drain the entire transmission. And lastly the last time anything has been done to the transmission cannot be found, as i purchased the car used. All help will be useful, thanks.

The tranny fluid is supped to be this super synthetic oil which suppousdly never needs to be chaged. Ive never flushed one out before so this is experience from other cars. Ide say take th drain plug out, drain out as much as possible. THen you can take down the tranny pan if you feel that it should. Again ive never done this before so I have no clue where the plug is to fill the tranny back up.

Well I guess Ill see what happens when i change the fluid this weekend. I will let you know how it goes or if anything goes wrong (god help me that it wont.)

With all due respect, I believe Antiburn may be incorrect about which transmission fluid to use. I know the 740s take that super expensive fluid. I believe a 730 might take regular fluid.

I suggest you contact the people at Jaggi Transmissions to find out for sure. Their website is http://www.jie.com/ You'll probablly need to get under your car and read the label on the transmission before calling them-the website tells you what to look for.

Please post what you find out. I'd like to know and Antiburn probably would too.

Well whatever fluid you put in its not like theres a tranny fluid dip stick that you can pour it into.

Thanks for that very helpful info liberty, I will check it out as soon as I get the available time to. I will let you know how it goes after I change it, and sorry again antiburn, my car DOES have a transmission fluid dipstick, how else am i to check the fluid level, it is an automatic of course.

you sure its not the oil...

"German 730i BMW"........'antiburn' means well, I believe he's familiar with newer cars.
As far as your car and transmission goes I'll try to answer in order.
1] use 'Dexron' III fluid [ it's standard GM type oil ]
2] Loosen then remove the 30mm 'nut' @ the bottom of the dipstick tube to drain the pan. If you remove the pan [6 bolts/brackets], you can extract a little more fluid when you replace the filter screen & o-ring [3 torx head screws].....don't mix up the screw brackets for the pan, 2 are 'flat' & 'square', 4 are curved for the corners.
3] BMW 's and many later cars you can't drain the Torque Converter and the only 'Complete' fluid change is with one of those $$$$ flushing machines which connects to the cooler lines.
4] Finaly, DO NOT overfill it. After about 3.5 quarts, warm it up, idle in each gear position a few seconds and top up to the lower line only. Give a good roadtest , then, recheck and top as needed to the upper line.
5] Beat to you and Stay In Touch ! !

Yea jeff your right, Im not to keen on the older cars. Also sorry for the mix up german, you do have a tranny dip stick.