I do not seem to have any Dipstick on my E Class W213 220D or is it hidden somewhere

 

New here but the same problem as wgray105. All I was able to do was suck out about 4 quarts. After being frustrated I came here to look for advice. Well ItalianJoe1 had the answer that worked for me.
I use the Harbor Freight Extractor and didn't use a hose at all and just took the adapter that would connect to a tube and just put that at the top of the dipstick tube. Fantastic...sucked it all out! Thank you all!

 

I had the same problem as you and read through this thread, like you I followed ItalianJoe1 advice and it worked like a charm. No tube down the dipstick, just sealed the head of extraction device to the top of dipstick tube.

 

Yes, the axle goes through the oil pan so the extractor tube can't reach the bottom of the pan. Glad you figured it out!

 

Did you loosen the oil filter canister for the oil to flow down back in the sump?

 

I already had the whole canister and oil filter out. Should I have done differently?

 

No, you shouldn't have. The beauty of having the oil filter on top of the engine is that you can service the filter standing up... no need to go under the car. This makes the suction procedure a second beauty as well, for the same reason. However, the one precaution is that you must loosen the filter to break its seal, and let the oil within it drain to the sump, as ItalianJoe1 mentions.

When I change the oil on either MB (C320 or E350) my first step (after warming the oil a few minutes) is to loosen the oil filter cap. I let it drain completely (2-3 minutes), then remove the cap and filter second. Once done, I am sure its oil has drained into the sump. Only then do I install the extractor/topsider pump.

 

Incredibly helpful thread. Always changed my oil from the plug and finally did a test on my W211 RWD with the suction method and sure enough - worked like a charm and removing the drain plug after sucking the oil out resulted in a few drips. My reply to this thread isn't draining vs. sucking - It's about the M276 engine (in my case 276.952) and 4Matic application vs. RWD. MB sucking via tube vs. vacuum seal - and how do you know when to use what. 2010 S550 V8 4Matic - tried the vacuum seal at the top of the dipstick tube and it's a no go. Have to put the tube down the tube.

On to my 2016 E350 4Matic M276.952. I needed to visually understand why the tube down the tube won't work. And it's for the reasons noted by the well-informed contributors above. The PDF depicts the design. I took the bottom metal pan down to understand it. The dipstick tube takes a 90º turn just before mounting to the upper oil pan. The plastic tip of the dipstick does not make that bend, but a plastic suction tube will. The oil level is above that bend and up the tube to be read by the dipstick. The next is a tight 90º bend to the bottom of the small metal lower oil pan - what I removed. Very difficult, if possible at all, for a plastic tube to make that bend. The indentation of the lower oil pan is maybe 3/8" - and it is equal to or below the drain plug. The drain plug is not in the metal lower oil pan. It's in the upper cast oil pan. The square chute(?) that is circled is the dedicated channel for the oil to be sucked up the dipstick tube via vacuum. In the case of a RWD 2016 E350 - the engine is still a M276.952. However, the oil pans are completely different (no axle) and the dipstick tube makes a slight bend, mounted to the upper oil pan and further leads right to the bottom of the metal lower oil pan.

I looked at various WIS instructions and I don't see where MB indicates when to insert the tube and when to vacuum seal - but maybe the best way is to use EPC and figure it out from the parts pictures and VIN the path of the dipstick tube. Like ItalianJoe1 says - all but a very few special ones.

 

Excellent thread. I have a 2014 E350 4matic and initially tried sucking it out by putting the tube down as far as it would go. I only got 4 qrts or so. Today I tried using the described method of simply sealing the top of the dipstick tube and sucking it out that way. It worked like a charm and I was able to get about 7.2 qrts.

Does 7.2 qrts sound right for my car?

Thanks,
Mark