Nah. I'm not that excited about it to waste $8.50. :D

Figure that I've got to use them anyway. :o

Whats this stuff about bugs in the oil filters?
Are they manufactured that way, and which ones have the bugs?

The canister style filters that the diesels use have them. The bypass section is full of good stuff! :D I cut open an OE and a Fram they were both full of junk. The OE had white cotten at least. :rolleyes:

Boatguy,
Where did you purchase the OE filter that you cut open? It has been pointed out that A Bosch from India is not the same as one mfg in Europe.

Peter

I didn't intend for this thread to inspire debate - it's interesting to see the direction it's taking. All I can say is that the $5.00 Fram filter definitely caused a restriction or some other condition that resulted in my getting only 2.5 psi (eventually) at the oil pressure gauge. I replaced with a $13.50 OEM filter from the dealer and now the oil pressure is pegged. All I can pass on is my observation, and the fact that I've decided to never use a cheap filter again. I have no idea what the difference is technically speaking. For all I know, there could be grass and hay inside my OEM filter (I'm curious to cut one open now). But in my limited experience the old adage "you get what you pay for" always seems to hold true to some degree. Every time I have cheaped out it has always seemed to come back and bite me. Of course, that's to be taken with a grain of salt; paying the most doesn't neccessarily get you the best.

From MB of North Haven, one of the larger dealers around here. It came sealed in the official box and everything. Having actually cut apart and looked at a few filters I feel confident and saying I think they all come from one or two factories. For the 603 only, I have not really looked at any other engines.

The Fram version had cheaper seals around the shaft on the housing. I wouldn't want to run it, I did for a few hundred miles and lost 1/2 bar of oil pressure. But the STP is a Mann in another box. (Mann was stamped right on the filter!) Take your pick Bosch, Mann, Hegnst, OE, STP, WIX, Carquest, Napa are all the same for the 603 at least. The German ones are slightly better but they are all junk.

I am hoping these Knecht filters are better.

That is interesting that a factory filter has junk in it. I wonder if MB is really aware of that. It is something that could slip through the cracks. Recently a guy was checking expired domain names and he came across Microsoft. He quickly registered it. Of course he couldn't use it, because of trademark, but then again neither could Microsoft. The guy settled in hours for a large sum of money. I'm guessing someone at Microsoft was asked to clean out a desk during this time period. Cracks do happen.

Peter

I bought 4 Bosch filters on ebay for a good price, they all have Mann stamped on them. 603 filters at least all seem to come from the same place.

We'll see. Maybe the Mahle will be different.

Ayup chaps

Greetings from the UK. Just read through this thread. I've just had the head gasket done on the M103 and I too noticed the oil pressure not getting above 2.5 bar when hot + in D idling its below 1.

What annoys me is that I never noticed it before. I spend more time looking at the pressure gague than the bloody road; getting dangerous.

Why should doing the head make the pressure drop? It was serviced last at Mercedes, so I'm assuming its got an OE filter.

I note with interest that the waterpump got changed (bit of a bastard to get at the bolts underneath eh?) and you're blaming that, but how can it?

I'm gonna get the oil changed anyway with an OE filter. I'll post back with results.