i changed the oil in my 1991 190 e 2.3, and when i pulled the drain pan out i notices what looked like metal shavings. upon further inspect ion my fears were correct. i found quite a bit of shavings/ ground metal. didnt think @ the time to use a magnet to see what kind of metal it was. i am new to this whole car thing and definatly need some help w/ this one. how do i start to diagnose the source of the problem and or elminate others. thanks in advance for the help.

If you still have the old oil filter, bust it open and inspect the filtering material to see if there's any more shards. If not, then there's a chance that the stuff at the bottom of the pan has been there for awhile. You might want to consider mounting a really strong alinco magnet to the pan to collect any loose bits to keep it from scoring piston walls or other places.

Simply remove them and keep a close eye on the state of things at every oil change. You can't find out anything more at this point without a total teardown. If there are no other signs, don't panic. I found large, curled bits of aluminum inside my filter housing on my c280. That was 200,000km ago. I still don't know what they were, nor do I care (yet).

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'96 C280 (gone)
'97 C36
'05 C230k

thank you

Metal shavings are common in oil pans. They usually accumulate when a new engine is broken in. Some manufacturers make the oil plug magnetic so that shards of metal will stick to it and can then be removed when the oil is changed.

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Earl



1993 190E 2.3
2000 Toyota 4x4 Tundra