Do ANY of you have any evidence that filter content has "degraded" in the years since these cars were new? Did anyone cut up an OM617 filter in 1976, 1985, 1992, and 2005? If so, was there any noticable difference in them? I found some NOS oil filters on eBay for MB diesels from the 60's, I posted a thread but nobody got them. Right then and there, an interested party would've been able to buy a pack of vintage filters, open em up, and compare contents to today's filters. Nobody bid, were they afraid the results would reveal that there is no problem? I don't know. You don't even know how long the media in the filter has been that way. For all you know, you've been using a filter filled with "crap" for over 30 years and hundreds of thousands of miles, and only now is it a problem. Choose whatever you want, but I'm just sayin'...

__________________
'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.