Two days ago, I did an oil change.

Today, I was driving home and the oil started bursting out of the engine bay and smoked all the way home and the -2 quart warning came on.

It's being flat bedded to the dealer now.

I took a look at the engine bay and it looks like a leak came out of where the oil filter fits into the engine.

If it's not tightened right, could this be the problem? I removed the oil filter to inspect it, and it appears as if that there is a small metal shaving from the engine block thread on the oil filter thread.

What do you think?

how did u remove the oil filter shaft? there is a special tool for that purpose.. I hope you used it.... it has two bolts connected to it

I don't know what you mean. The oil filter housing comes out with a simple oil filter wrench. And then the oil filter itself slides off the shaft.

did you replace the four o-rings(make sure you lube them with oil before installing them, don't install them dry!)? and tightened the oil filter shaft tightly? how can it leak???? make sure u're using synthetic 15w40, what is the torque for the oil filter shaft anyways?

http://www.saveonautoparts.com/catalog/european/oilsocket

tabo

The oil filter housing has to be tightened with an oil filter wrench, hand tight like on a domestic spin on filter isn't sufficient. With a wrench you will feel a definite stop when it is tightened all the way.

I believe there is a torque spec on top of the oil filter cap of 25nm.

Gilly

'session,

What did you find out RE the leak?

I traced a minor but persistant leak to the the oil filter area (oxidized oil).

O-rings were properly prepped prior to filter change and filter assembly properly torqued to 25nm.

FR

I was checking the engine after spring cleaning and I found oil on the engine around the base of the oil filter area. My truck is always serviced by the dealer. So I guess it's back to the dealer again. Any update form you guys regarding your leaks.

metal chips in the oil filter housing is common on the 112 and 113 engines. remove the pieces and dont worry.

Solution to this mysterious oil leak:

O-ring on oil filter housing was bad, which caused the oil filter housing to loosen over time, which under pressure eventually led to oil just splashing out of the oil filter housing.

Dealer replaced o-ring and did an oil change and steam cleaned engine, however as I'm out of warranty, the thing had to be flat bedded to dealer and all that work ended up in a $300 bill - all because of a crappy o-ring and badly tightened oil filter housing....

BTW: The faulty o-rings were from the Mann filters - not from the original MB filter - I wonder if that makes a difference?

'session,

Thanks for the reply. The last two oil changes done on our ML had Mann filters.

Hopefully the MB fitment will address the issue.

Thanks again,

FR

Since I am in the processing of sellling my truck I didn't have it fix. It should be a very simple job of replacing the o ring and retorque the filter housing properly.