Trust me from experience, you do NOT need to remove the valve cover to check if you have metal oiler tubes. A peek inside the oil fill cap is all that's needed. My buddy and took the valve covers off of his 1993 500e only to find that the oiler tubes we were going to replace were indeed metal, not plastic.

Get a penlight and peek inside the oil fill. You should be able to see a metal flat-type tube or a plastic true tube running parallel to the front of the car.

Troy
1995 E420 99k