Well, to start from the beginning so it will make more sense (if thats possible)

I bought this car in December. When I changed the oil, it was EXTREMELY dirty and the filter was very old and had a big (not original) hole in the side of it.

When I took out the filter- the canister was full of oil, which I thought was odd, but now I think I know why it was like that. I never thought much about it. When I changed the oil, I used RotellaT 15W-40 and a NON-MB filter. I put 1000 miles on that oil, then changed it today. Well, when I removed the cover from the filter canister- the canister was EMPTY. I was told by another member of my family that the MB filters have an anti-drainback valve and the others do not. Seems like this could have been the case here? Does anyone know if this is true?

Anyway- I did not think much of it- I changed the oil- put in the Mercedes filter and this time used Castrol GTX 20W-50. Normally, I will remove the coil wire and crank for a few seconds (on my other cars), but was not sure if this should be done on Mercedes, so I did not do it. Mistake? When I started the car- it ran for about a half of a second, then stalled. I thought, "OH NO" - the chain or tensioner broke"! So, I hesitantly turned the ignition again and it started, but with a loud knock and what seemed to be a miss for about 3-4 seconds! I thought for sure something bad had occured, but then it quickly stopped and the engine smoothed out nicely as normal. I let my father know and he said I should have either disconnected the coil wire and cranked, OR should have filled up the oil canister with oil before I started- which I never thought about doing, or even know if that should be done.

Anyway, is it possible that I damaged my engine, or drastically shortened its "life"? I really need this car to last me for at least another year, so I hope I did not cause damage by not filling the canister before I started.

Any info about this, or the drainback valves appreciated.

BTW - the car is a 3.8L V8.