Repair-It

I figured I'd post this when I get to it. Some aspects are different than usual. Mainly:
- Removal of 2 underbody covers. They are held on with 7mm bolts with captured washers. Nothing my 3/8" impact can't zip off instantly. Maybe less fiddly than the plastic retainers I am used to. Certainly more reusable.
- There are 2 sumps to drain in the oil pan. Just means 2 drain plugs. Not a big deal, just a little extra work.
- The cartridge filter is accessible in the engine bay. That's weird for me. Also there are like FOUR O-rings to change. I don't have a pick I just realized...

8mm bolts not 7mm.

I pulled off, uh, 2 or 3 panels. I forget now.

Fairly straight forward, just more work than a regular car. My new picks worked great on the O-rings. Kind of cool to do the oil filter from above.

I just dumped in 9 qts. I've seen 8.5 but the official capacity is 9 so perhaps there is a 1/2 qt that stays behind. Whatever, I put in 9. We'll see if it says "warning, too much oil" or something. Who knows. Haven't run it yet.

Dual sump oil pan? What is this, a 1980 Ford Thunderbird with a 302?

The E46 has a small access panel in the underbody panel for doing oil changes. 1/4 turn philips screw is all you need to access the sump drain plug. There's only one sump, though.

It's all one oil pan. It just straddles the subframe. They could have left the front sump out but then it wouldn't hold enough oil...

They are far enough apart that my drain pan can't catch both at the same time.

kevm14 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 12:52 pm It's all one oil pan. It just straddles the subframe. They could have left the front sump out but then it wouldn't hold enough oil...

They are far enough apart that my drain pan can't catch both at the same time.

Just like a 1980 Thunderbird with a 302.

Yes except not stamped steel.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/03-08-Mercedes ... SwhkNe7bdh

Received my dipstick.

Based on those results, I added 0.5L of oil.

Car now results 7.8 quarts which is still technically 1.2 qt low. I think I am supposed to trust the dipstick, plus the total oil in the engine should now be 8.5L which is the spec. So, I think the readout is just wrong.
The car has not told me the oil level is low. I guess I'll check it occasionally with the dipstick. Hoping it eventually tells me to add a quart at the appropriate time, then I will feel like I can trust it since I have controlled all of the variables (oil change, etc.). That's all I really need it to do for me and even then I now have a dipstick I can use.

While I was under it doing the TCC solenoid I noticed the rear drain plug seems to be leaking.

I looked up the factory drain plug gasket (washer) and the rear one looks like a regular washer. The front looks like the correct one. Sigh.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/merced ... 7603014106

I'm not dropping the oil a third time so this will have to wait until the next oil change I guess.

I've never had a car that I had to change the gasket on the drain plug though they pretty much all say to do so. In this case, it may be because a previous owner used the incorrect type of gasket - reusing stock may work fine...

Tom
on Sun, Jan 21 at 02:38PM
- Oil Drain Plug Gasket
Used on my '04 E55. Worked great. Make sure to replace these with every oil change.

Sigh.

So I ordered 10x of the oil pan drain plug gaskets (2 per oil change) and even 3 of the transmission drain plug gaskets though it doesn't leak.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/merced ... 1402710060

Dipstick readings still not really working. Looks really low and I don't trust it.

But I think the oil level is in the correct range again (or still 1/2 qt low?).