Topping off the oil doesn't make the soot disappear. Duh. If you keep adding salt water to a pot of boiling water, what will you end up with after a while? A pot of SALT! Same for soot. CHANGE YOUR OIL like you're supposed to. It can be high intervals on clean running engines. But analysis must be done to make sure, and on the older diesels, they put a lot more soot in the oil, requiring more frequent change.

I am guessing the analysis was on the 1999 E300, not the 240.

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