I talked to an experienced Mercedes parts man about the oil tube history. He said they had problems with the metal tubes plugging up but he hasn't seen that happen with the plastic ones. It would seem that the oil change intervals would have to be seriously ignored to plug the tubes. Maybe the plastic is slicker inside.

deanyel: Any idea what damage high oil pressure would cause if it was necessary to design the end caps to blow out? I'm sure cost did play a role in this design since Mercedes was in a price reduction transition starting in 1994. For instance, the 400E/E420 dropped in base list price from $56,400 in 1993 to $51,000 in 1994 and the 1994 model had a number of improvements.