About the garage door spring, have you been servicing it? Everything needs to be serviced including cars, tooth brushes, mates, garage doors, and just about everything. You need to coat the spring every 6 months with a penetrating oil. This keeps the spring from rusting and binding and particularly where you live. Follow this recommendation and the spring will operate as smooth as silk.

Peter

Wow! I never knew that, except the mate part. ;)

Did you get the FRAM filter out of there? My Dad took the 190E 2.6 to a mechanic that installed a FRAM and the oil pressure would not get much above 2 bar after that. I swapped a new OE filter in, and presto, problem solved. The old thread is here...

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/82489-%25-%25-%2A%24-fram-filter.html?highlight=fram

Wow, that is one interesting thread. It's funny - I have always used a Fram in my cars - now I know they're junk.

My car is due for its next oil change in about 1000 miles. From previous posts it would seem that it should be OK to drive the car with the oil gauge at 2.75 until my next oil change, at which point I will replace with an OEM filter. Can anyone else confirm that this is safe? Or should I replace it now? We're only talking a few bucks here...

Peter

You must subscribe to the Larry Bible philosophy.................Get them hot & do them often. :D

I lost 1/2 a bar at idle when I had a Fram filter in my SDL. Needless to say its stay was breif.

Again, I am surprised. But if so many people have had problems with the Fram (evidently including me at this point), then I'll never buy one again. Question: is there another major brand (i.e. Motorcraft, Delco, etc.) available at Autozone that I should use? Or should I just go to the local Foreign Car Parts store or maybe even the dealer to get a filter? I think I want to swap it out tomorrow to test this theory...

Use OE

What about Bosch? Fastlane has them for $5.22 and I know Autozone has Bosch. I was able to snag 4 Bosch filters for my SDL off ebay for about $9 each. OE's cost $12-$14.

You guys don't give up, do you? How cheap can you get? Even if you pay full boat at the dealer which amounts to about $50.00/yr for filters, how much is your engine worth to you? Some of you guys will piss away good money for synthetic oil at $6/ qt which you don't need and try to save $5 on a POS oil filter made out of garbage. Just buy them from Fastlane and have piece of mind.The onlly things I'll buy from Autozone, Kragins, or any other chain is spray paint, antifreeze, spark plugs, loctite, and such items. The rest of the stuff thors places sell is garbage. I wouldn't give a thought to putting on one of their starters or master cylinders, because I like to do things only once and move on.

P/S The above list also includes Napa stores as another chain to avoid. Hey as a gregarious professional mechanic who talks to a lot of shop owners, that is the word in the industry.

Peter

Bosch is sold by Fastlane for a 1991 300E. I have opened up several brands of filters for the 603 Bosch, Mann, Heignst, OE are all the same inside. STP is a Heignst in a blue box. MB does not make their own filter, they sub contract them out. I am pretty sure the OE filter is a Mann. I know the OE ps filter is Mann it is stamped right on it. I am not cheap I have done my research. I would run Bosch on any car without a second thought.

The question isn't to use or not to use Bosch. The question is where did you buy it and where was it made.

Peter

Just another small point to remember.
The world is flooded with counterfeit parts.
It's a HUGE problem.
When I purchase my oilfilters ( at my friendly M-B dealer), it comes in a geniune M-B box, complete with " holographic " ? seal.
Hell, it's only $ 8.00 & I KNOW what I'm getting. ;)

A Bosch oil filter for a 300E is the same whether you buy it at, Fastlane, Autozone, Walmart ect. Bosch is Bosch. If it were my car I would buy a dealer filter and a Bosch then cut them apart and compare, I bet they are the same. I have gotten a few Mann filters in the official MB box.

The oil filter thread in the diesel forum is a perfect example of this, all oil filters for 603's are junk. Some are just slightly less junk, ie dealer filter seems ever so slightly better.

Hatteras guy,
Keep smoking whatever you're smoking, and some day you'll grow up to be a Grand Banks. Manny is on the money. The dealer filter or one from Fastlane isn't that much money, and you know what you are getting. You are shooting craps with your expensive engine as the purse when you buy that garbage from chain stores. Get real. This is America. Have it made as cheap as you can, and improve that bottom line for the share holders. Quality is not important. In all fareness to some American companies that have resisted that concept, I will name a few companies that I am aware of that have been admirable in product and service. Levi Straus, Ruger Firearms, Devilbliss paint equipment, Kirsch drapery products, Manchester tanks, Delta Faucets, James Cash Penney, and I am sure there are others that I am unaware of.


Peter