Oil change from....
 

pergitory and a lesson learned. Changed the O/F on my '01 E320 yesterday. I've been doing this every 5000k miles for 7 years with zero troubles. Finished everything and started the engine...holy s__t! oil squirting out of filter housing. :eek: I thought the o-ring had failed. Tried again, same result. At this time I had one BIG oil mess. Called my indy, and he said the lip on the plastic housing is cracked. I DID IT! NO excuses. I just added a little too much hand twist and broke it. I understand this is not uncommon and age/mileage can be a factor. Got a new filter housing from the dealer and followed the instruction...TIGHTEN TO 25nm! What a mess too clean up in the engine compartment. I have been doing DIY car stuff for 50 years and learn something all the time. Yes, it could have been worse. :o Dennis

Thanks for sharing your mishap, at least no damage was done. I always use a torque wrench since I am notorious for over-tightening plastic fittings. I noticed that the Mercedes symbol on the plastic housing is at the 12:00 position when properly tightened.

Once you torque it (once), score the shoulder of the cap/cover in alignment with the seam on the housing. Then tighten it to that point in the future and you don't need the torque wrench nor have to worry about overtightening it.

Hopefully the dealer didn't soak you too badly for the filter assembly.

(BTW, you're changing oil too frequently; if you're going to do that you may as well use dino oil and paper filters and save some money.)

Good luck.

Guys, thanks, I'll make good use of the tips. I have an account with my MB dealer affording me anywhere between 25%-40% discount on my parts. They make SO MUCH on retail, they didn't even blink when I asked to set the account up. :) Dennis