My Dad was telling me that he was at a local MB dealer getting parts and the parts guy showed him a print out of sales of various parts. During the first 6 months he sold one or none of several diesel engine seals, yet after June, when the LSD started selling here in NY the numbers jumped and have continued to rise.
On my Dad's 99 E300 Diesel he swapped out the fuel filter after some hard starting and low power issues and found some of the o-rings appeared almost dissolved!
This isn't good.