Well I finally took your advice and changed the oil in my '79 300SD at 3000 miles instead of my usual 10,000. I did it a new way though: I went to our fireman's field and drove off the dirt road into the grass parking area to pass a truck that was stopped when all of a sudden I wasn't moving anymore. I thought I was hung up an a rock so I backed up and went on to park the car.

Soon some kids told me that there was a big oil trail following me. I looked under and I could see a hugh hole in the steel lower oil pan with oil still dripping out. I went back to where is I hit the object and found a bent over steel fence post sticking out of the ground at about a 10 degree angle.

We park thousands of car in that field every year and mow the grass, so how come that fence post jumped up and into my oil pan now?

I thank the German engineers for the 2 piece oil pan as it was an easy fix. Since I shut the engine off shortly after the oil drained, I don't think I damaged anything. I couldn't find any metal filings in the pan and I started the engine after replacing the pan and it seemed to run the same as usual. I haven't tried it on the road yet because tha exhaust system needs repair so I thought I would do that while I had it in my service workshop.

P E H