It can be done by an amateur. But far better done by a garage, tbh.

He should have made sure it was at the proper level before it went out. Basically what they have to do is fill it, then close it up, work the car through the gears, and then open up and top up.

It's more involved than that, but that's the jist of it.

Thanks for your reply.

Don't mind me asking, but what was wrong with a dipstick to check level and fill through the dipstick tube, and a simple drain bung in the autobox sump, such as found in our 96 merc, 2000 Landcruiser and 2002 Subaru Outback (front axle has its own dipstick too on that), and Japanese at least continued long after with simple dipsticks, might still do for all i know.

Hadn't realised BMW had gone down the road of making things as awkward as possible as early as on E39..

Whats useless about a dipstick ,we've been using the things for a century, auto boxes have a routine to follow, eg warm in P engine running, how can that be any less useful/accurate than a level plug, we're not sticking a twig in and comparing to the height of the sump.

Dipstick also gives you the chance to see and feel the oil for yourself.

Each to their own, it takes me 2 minutes to check the gearboxes on all three of our TC autos via the stick, and a further 30 seconds to check the front axle on the Scooby whilst there...it goes without saying what any manufacturer can do with their cars that come with no engine dipstick either.