Ugg!
Just picked up a 2014 ML 350 with 75,000
miles on it.
M276 DE35 flex fuel.
Everything looked good checked out, Carfax even had regular oil changes.
After about 750 miles of owning finally got around to changing the oil, even though it wasn’t due for another 3500 miles.

Cut the oil filter open and saw this.
😳

 

Hmm. What is the whole story on the vehicle? Private sale or dealer? Overall condition? Service history? What motivated you to cut the filter open?

 

Dealer.
Condition was very good.
as I stated carfax showed regular maintenance mostly at dealership.
What motivation did I have to cut filter?
To look for metal! I usually do this on my BMW every other oil change.
(The Mercedes is my wife’s car)

Side note we had (still have actually try to sell)
a ‘12 E350 same engine but the injectors in the ML seem way louder than the E class
is this because the M276 in the ML is a flex fuel capable engine and the one in our E isn’t?

 

Can't speak to the injector comment, other than direct injection engines have diesel-like sound compared with port injection engines. What do you think about the metal in the filter?

 

I don’t know what to think hence why I posted.
if I had an answer I wouldn’t ask a question

 

Looks pretty normal to me. I cut the filters a few times from various cars in my fleet and always see something like this. I stopped doing it, my highest mileage is 179k on a 2008 m272 and still running great.

 

Since you already have the practice of checking the filter, you may need to build your peace of mind by repeating the check a few more times. Perhaps using a shorter interval, say 5K Miles, and compare to less, the same, or worse and decide based on data.

Sure many here would like to know about your updates.

At least, you have a data point from E55greasemonkey. If you could get the VMI from a dealer, there may be information about possible repair not included in Carfax.

 

Send an oil sample to blackstone labs for an oil analysis. They will be able to give you solid data if you have metal shavings.

 

The OP already knows metal shavings are present, the concern is if they are a normal thing ( not to me, but who am I ), and if not, it would be great to know where they are coming from. Possibly, the lab test can isolate specific compounds that correlate to certain engine parts, say different coatings, or base metal

 

I forgot to put excessive* metal shavings. But yes, the oil analysis should provide solid info if the metal shavings are at a normal amount that one shouldn’t be concerned over.

 

Hello Trelos!
What happend with your car? Did you find a metal shavings in next oil change?