Black label G260 fluid?

[Daeldalus]

I went under the car today to find if I had no label, green label, or red label but it had a black label so which tranny fluid does that take? 1990 b25 g260 I want to change it for something really high quality would Royal Purple Syncromax be suitable for what i want?

[Madhatter]

even their product specs don't give proper weights or applicable standards, so it makes it difficult to know just what it is. HOWEVER, they do say for vehicles that normally use ATF. If you have a black sticker it's usually lifetime fill of atf (from memory), but you normally see it on auto trans, not manuals. Sure it's just not dirty or something?

what size is your drain plug? can help to tell what to run in it.

[Daeldalus]

definitely a black tag. i had to clean it up a bit but it is black
i also did not see any other ones on the trans at all

drain plug is a fairly large recessed hex plug. i do not remember
exactly what size it is but bigger than 15mm for sure

also i think i remember the fluid being brown the last time i checked
the level.......

[jlevie]

As far as I can tell from part numbers on realoem.com, there is no differences in the internals of the Getrag 260 transmissions that correspond with the tag color. So I suspect that BMW engineering, for whatever reason, switched to different fluids at various points and tagged the transmissions so a tech would know what fluid to use if the transmission needed topping up. If draining and filling any fluid can be used. Royal Purple Syncromax or Redline MTL are both good, but a high quality synthetic ATF also works well.

I use the special ATF (a Pentosin product) called for in an late auto transmissions in my race car, as it seems to foam less and puke out the breather, and Redline MTL in my street car.

[Daeldalus]

thanks that is good to know..... i kind of suspected that but did not think to check part numbers
since i have a ready source of synchromax at work and for a good discount i think i will go with that...
you think i should run some through when draining to get all the old stuff out? or would it likely
mix well enough with what ever is in there now as to not matter?

[jeffnhiscars]

If what comes out is really nasty it might not hurt to put in some El Cheapo fluid, drive around the block then drain it.

[Daeldalus]

i finally had time off work to change my fluid today. the original fluid ended up being
ATF of some sort but it was dark brown and burnt smelling. it was well time to change
the fluid. i changed it with RP Synchromax as stated. it works very well so far, took the
whining noise out of first gear and significantly reduced my getrag rattle( can barely
even hear it now) I would so far recommend Synchromax