[joe1973]

just wanted to share advice for all non- mechanics in our MB community. I've been doing routine oil chsnges for my 300d for many years but recently had an issue i wish to share.
when you buy the MB filters, there are 2 size rubber seals/gaskets enclosed in the box. Well not realizing i took the smaller of the 2, changed oil sealed housing, started car not expeting issues. Fortunately I decided to check underneath before driving off but after 3 mins idle. Tht's when i realized there was 2-3 quarts of oil on the ground... Raised hood to find oil pouring from top pf oil housing! Took me some time to realize i fitted the smaller seal but process took extra 2 hours to ky normal il change time plus the mess on my driveway. Wife wont be pleased.
So lesson is to take car replacing the rubber gasket and make sure you get the right size out of the 2 in the box!

 

[300Dman]

Which Brand Oil Filter comes with 2 Seals for the Oil Filter Cap?

What year 300D are you speaking of?

 

[Master7Chief]

Did the engine sound different while running? I would imagine that would mean it was running with little to no oil pressure for 3 min. right?

 

[joe1973]

I reer to my 84 300d Turbo diesel. I buy my filters from MB dealer where inside the box are rubber seals for housing and for dipstick. Not for the metal shaft, which i replaced as well during this change only to realize the previous ones were hardened and brittle. Idle much smoother and engine vibration much less, which i thought was a sign of pending valve adjustment.

 

[tom wade]

Did the engine sound different while running? I would imagine that would mean it was running with little to no oil pressure for 3 min. right?

You would be surprised at what most engines will take. When I picked up my 300D it only had 4 qts in it. It maintained full oil pressure during the 3 mile drive home :thumbsup:

 

[MBeige]

I don't recall if the oil filter I purchased a while back had 2 O-rings for the housing lid, but is this the same filter you got?

How did you make it fit if it was the smaller of the two? How what kind of a difference are we talking about - overall circumference/diameter, or thickness?

 

[joe1973]

The pic shows the same kind of filter I buy from MB dealers. There are 2 larger rubber seals, one has double the thickness vs the other. Use former.
Scary to think that if i drove away i could have emptied out oil with realizing before too late.

 

[300Dman]

I reer to my 84 300d Turbo diesel. I buy my filters from MB dealer where inside the box are rubber seals for housing and for dipstick. Not for the metal shaft, which i replaced as well during this change only to realize the previous ones were hardened and brittle. Idle much smoother and engine vibration much less, which i thought was a sign of pending valve adjustment.

I have the same Car.
I have never bought Oil Filters from the Mercedes Dealer so I was suprised to find it came with 2 different size large O-rings.
I can't remember any of the various companies I have bought haveing more that one large O-ring. So that made me curious to ask.

 

[300Dman]

Some info from another Forum on 671.952 Oil Filters. Notice that the Mercedes Filter in the picture is made by Mann and it has a Full Flow section of the Oil Filter as 27 (nominal) Microns that is not as good as a few of the others noteably the Baldwin Oil Filter.

I also looked up the price and found that the Number stamped on the Filter itself did not work but the part number from the Mercedes Box did work. I got an MSRP of $17.50 and an online price of $13.13 (This is from an internet seller of genuine Mercedes parts).

Purolator/STP both appear to be made by the same company in India. The Central Tube in the Filter is not seald on one end. The Raw Cotton Material is junkier than in the other Filters I have cut apart.
The Company claims that the Full Flow Section is 35 Microns making it the worst one of the buch as far as filtration goes.

Wix -
Full flow section 32 microns.
No bypass section on this fillter it is all a Paper Element.

Mann-
Full flow section 27 microns
By pass is undetermined (when you see this it means the Oil Filter company that made it does not know what type of filtration the By Pass section is capable of. One company said they simply followed the Mercedes spec to fill the by pass section with Raw Cotton. Raw Cotton has seeds, husks of seads and small twigs in it.)

Fram -
Full flow section 25 microns
(Made in 2 different Countries; Turkey and Mexico. The Turkey Filters are favored)
By pass is undetermined.

Mahle -
Full flow section 22 microns (note that this is lower than the Mann)
By pass is undetermined.

Baldwin -P102 (Has the best full flow filtration and at least this company knows what the by pass section can filter. Both parts have Paper Elements.)
Full flow section 18 microns
By pass section is 15 microns
Noted by M-shop member diesel911 on this Post6

I recently bought 2 Hastings LF380 Filters and Forum Members have said Hastings Filters are made by Baldwin. Indeed the Hastings LF389 has the same construction as the Baldwin P102. Full Flow and Bypass Elements are made of Paper and the construction is heavy plated Sheet Metal. It only comes with one large Rubber O-ring for the Oil Filter Cap and there is no Oil Drain Plug Gasket in it like there is in some of the other companies Filters.

I costs about x2 as much as a Bosch or Mahle Filter does and are not sold in regular Auto Part Stores. You would have to go to some place that sells Big Rig Truck Filters or maybe Farm Equipment Filters.
See Pics; notic that the Hastings/Baldwin Filter has a larger Full flow Section.

 

[sethwm2]

vacuum lines

Also make sure when you replace the lid onto the oil filter housing that you don't pinch any vacuum lines.. you will get a little oil leaking out.. luckily I could see the drip oil trail as I was backing up the driveway.. and I was pretty save because it was only dripping out.. but you may not be so lucky!! Also, I always use the Mercedes-Benz oil filters remember to clean the cap and shaft meticulously, make sure the little rubber o-rings are in good condition at the end of the shaft. If you can't remember or don't know when they have been changed.. change them. Use the LARGE o-ring that comes with the oil filter, place it around the edge of the cap, use some motor oil on the o-ring. make sure the edge of the oil filter housing is clean as well. Do not over torque the nuts and alternate until snug.

 

[joe1973]

300dMan-- thnks for the research data on the filters. Will stick to MB/Mann to be safe as construction of other makes too different.
Anyone have any opinion about double stinting these filters to 6k miles? Tempted to do so based on price and besides MB change freq is 5k mi right?

 

[MBeige]

I change mine every 5k miles, but since I don't drive mine that much the time (months) overtakes the mileage. You can do 6k miles, that shouldn't be a problem, unless majority of that range is severe duty service.

 

[300Dman]

300dMan-- thnks for the research data on the filters. Will stick to MB/Mann to be safe as construction of other makes too different.
Anyone have any opinion about double stinting these filters to 6k miles? Tempted to do so based on price and besides MB change freq is 5k mi right?

Oil Filter construction in this case is what the sharing of info about.

Below is a pic of what is inside of the upper bypass Filter portion of Purolator/STP Oil Filter.

So you look at that and say I am glad I am buying a Filter from the Dealer. However, the Mann made Dealer Filter has the same stuff in it but the Stuff is 50% cleaner than what you see in this picture and the Cotton is nicer.

Many Forum Members who have seen this don't want the crappy plant parts other than Pure Cotton in their Filters.

The other issue is that none of the Companies who make the Filters with that Raw Cotton Gin/Waste have any idea how well that portion of the Filter works because they have never tested it. This means there is no quality Control on that section of the Oil Filter.

 

[300Dman]

Here is a pic of all of the stuff dumped out of the Bypass Section of the Oil Filter.

 

[Sevag]

dude i got a dozen mann filters on ebay for $75 shipped a couple months ago. should last me the duration of my ownership of the car. and they have the two o-rings that you mention. good call on that

 

[Sevag]

300dMan-- thnks for the research data on the filters. Will stick to MB/Mann to be safe as construction of other makes too different.
Anyone have any opinion about double stinting these filters to 6k miles? Tempted to do so based on price and besides MB change freq is 5k mi right?

you know what, there's no substitute for actually pulling out the dipstick and checking the dirtyness level of the oil. wipe the dipstick with a paper towel, then wipe brand new oil on the same towel. if it meets your test of dirtyness that you can tolerate past the normal 3K mile mark, then replace it.

 

[joe1973]

love the simplicity of the recommendation. Wipe oil from dipstick then make a decision. i'll go with double stinting for now. Car has 215k so at this point other things will go before the engine, nothwithstanding stretched oil filter.

 

[300Dman]

dude i got a dozen mann filters on ebay for $75 shipped a couple months ago. should last me the duration of my ownership of the car. and they have the two o-rings that you mention. good call on that

All for 617.952s and except for the Bosch one from eBay.
Here is My leftover Box of Filters. The ones labled CAM2 are actually genuine Mercedes Mann Filters; made in Germany. The other Mann Filters are made in the Chec Republic. Don't remember where the Hengst was made.

The Quaker State Filters are the odd ones. It is a Filter with upper and lower Paper Elements but does not have the heavy Metal constructon like the Hastings/Baldwin. They may have been made by Fram because at one time Fram made their Oil Filters like that with the duel Paper Elements.

I bought all of the above and with the exception of the Quaker State Oil Filters have cut apart one example of each Filter and also a Mahle Oil Filter to see what was in the Bypass section of the Filter.

My own way to resolve the Oil Filter issue was to installa Bypass Oil Filter so since that time I know no matter what Oil Filter I use I have better Oil Filtration than the Stock Oil Filters.