Has anyone opened up an Austrian made Mahle oil filter yet?

__________________
'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

How about WIX or Baldwin?

Those of you who are still leery of what oil filter to use may want to take a look at this thread.
http://mbca.cartama.net/showthread.php?t=15666

__________________
'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

In the thread referenced by htownbenzboy, scroll down to the post by Marshall Booth about the maintenance manual.

"To quote froim the 617.95 manual:

"If the oil filter element is badly contaminated and the differential pressure between the contaminated side and the clean side of the filter exceeds 3.5 bar, bypass valve (8) will open."

The bypass valve is in the filter housing and is NOT part of the filter - so a plugged filter will NOT deprive the engine of sufficient oil for proper lubrication (but will result in no oil filtration)."

So only if you let the oil filter get so nasty that it causes a differential of 3.5 bar, it will never see the bypass section of the filter. If it gets to that point, that cotton gin waste will be the least of your worries.

__________________
Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

wix are full flow oil filters- no bypass section, the whole thing is pleated paper- probably better than cotton gin waste, IMO. baldwin i dont know about.
just changed my oil, removed a bosch made in ??? did not say on the filter. have it draining. will cut it open and see. i use frams, or once used a wix(napa gold).

__________________
1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven.

1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven.

Your analysis is a bit off, as you are confusing the bypass valve with the bypass filter (more accurately, the bypass section of the filter). Oil flows through the bypass section of the filter as long as the engine is turning.

If one keeps reading the 617.951 engine manual, you come across this section (18-005):
After flowing through the combination filter element the oil, which has been cleaned in main flow filter compartment (24a) (which is the lower third of the filter), flows via riser (22) and duct (b) to main oil duct and on to bearing points.

On the other hand, the oil, which has been finiely filtered in bypass filter compartment (24) (the top 2/3's of the filter) flows through return flow pipe (18) and duct (c) towards the oil pan.

Oil that slows through the bypass section of the oil filter returns to the sump; it does not go (directly) to the bearings. Only the oil that flows through the lower 1/3 of the oil filter sees the bearings.

You did a nice job with those photos.

I cut up the Mahle for the 603 and posted photos on the thread. It was a well made filter without any of the superflous crap.

Does this mean that the OEM MB filters made in Austria are just rebranded Mahle ones? In that case from what you say the OEM MB ones would be worthwhile in using....I have one in my car at this very moment. Its interesting that the OEM MB oil filters are made in Austria, but the Hengst ones (which are junk appearantly) are made in Germany. Hengst makes good Air Filters though....their fuel filters seem rugged and well made too, I am currently using one and its lasted a long time so far. (over 15k)

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)