DANGER, NAPA Oil Filter
 

Yesterday after I finished sealing up my EGR :) on the 240D, I drained my oil only to realize I had no spare filter on the shelf. I know I should only use the proper "filter" but I wanted to try out my new modification. So I ran down to NAPA and got their Gold series filter. Fit right in. Placed new 'o' on top. Getting the oil filter housing top on felt funny, but screwed down fine. Started right up -off I went. Just to the store to get some milk(only a few blocks). When I parked and got out I smelled oil:confused: Looked under the Baroness and saw a huge puddle of oil:eek: . After a dirty investagation I found the 'o' ring was not seated properly. So I walked over to NAPA and they were kind enough to give me a new filter , after looking up the part #,same as # before. They also gave me 1gal. of oil at 20% off. After a parking lot fix and adding almost 1 gal. I re-started and oil leaking out of the filter housing worse than before!!
I called AAA and got a tow home. The driver was able to follow my oil trail home. Scary.
Fortunalely I had not thrown out the OEM 'o' ring. And that fixed the problem.
In a side by side comparasion the OEM is a little thicker than the NAPA. NAPA gave me a refund and the store owner is filing a complaint with the corp.QA. on my behalf.
I almost killed my car, please learn from my mistakes:stupid:

Noted (and thanks, I'll go with the Fram if I'm in a pinch for sure now).
-nB

Thanks for the heads up!

I stock up from fastlane on this site.

It is incredible how so many car parts are flakey, esp. oil filters!

The embarrassing part is I had just recived an order from Fastlane less a filter.
Regards

Sadly enough, autozone no longer carries the Fram 617/616 filters in stock anymore. :o I tried to get one last week and they said "its a special order item now" could take weeks to get one from them, and they are $10.49 here + tax. They DO still carry "STP" brand ones that "fit" our cars, they looked mighty scary though, metal looked like heavy tin foil with holes poked in it, it was made in india, and the rubber gasket on the bottom had way too big of an opening! :eek: Don't buy one! The box on the shelf was Dusty. Yikes. So we ended up getting another Austrian made dealership one.

I think we're all going to have to either use OEM MB/Hengst/Mann/Bosch, etc pretty soon, these simply aren't carried in stores anymore.

We'll probably just order another hoarde of Hengst ones again. At $9.27 they sure beat the $17.48 we pay at the stealer. Plus, having used well over two dozen of them now between the two cars, they seem to work just fine.

thats odd, i have run napa filters for the last year and never a problem.

Had the same problem with a mann filter on my 603. The mahle filter o-ring fixed the problem.

Suprisingly, Bosch is not a OE supplier of oil filters for MB. You would think they would be, since for things like lights, fuel filters, and electronics they're OE.

I just did an oil change at 170,000 and realized to double check that large O-ring on the filter cover. Checked and it was there tight, so I packed everything up and went for a test drive. Nothing like a fresh oil change on a once-again happy car. Put in a Mann filter. I wouldn't even think of getting those non-OE ones.

Unfortunately when I did my ATF fluid/filter change the filter they sent me online was the wrong one. So I had to use a Kragen Taiwanese filter. I didn't have any catastrophies though :eek:

I just bought 2 of the turkish fram filters from kragen for $7 for the 617, i also had a coupon for for any shell motor oil. $1.09 a quart! with no purchase limit! i bought 2 jugs of rotella synthetic 5w40 for the 300SD.

where is that cupon?
 

I want that cupon.
John

It was in last fridays newpaper. The 2 for $7 on the fram filters is on the kragen calander.

there should have been a note in the box stating that the flat ring that comes with it is not to be used with mbs. This same filter is used in certain industrial app. where that is necessary. I use their filters b/c they do not use cotton gin waste and because i work there and get a massive discount.

REALLY?! they dont have cotton gin waste in them? how about for the 603? im still looking for a filter without the cotton gin waste for my W124. I picked up some FRAM's for the 603 and its not the mexican made one i got last time but made in inidia:( so i think they have cotton gin waste in it. If the napa filter for the 603 doesnt have cotton gin waste then ill return the FRAM's for the 603 and get the napa.