No, these are not the nasty looking brown droplets you'll see on most online pictures of an ATF service. This is after 41K miles even after 17 years!



This is the new ATF filter in place.



Notice the "grinding marks" in a couple of places. That's because where the filter touched the inside of the cardboard box it had resided inside it had rusted. It was just surface rust but still, it indicated that the box had become water-logged at some point during storage. Thanks Mercedes! A wire-wheel was harsher than I wished to use even though it would have been effective. I used an abrasive-wheel designed to remove old gasket residue to get rid of the rust. But that explains the grinding-marks on this ATF filter. I told you, I really won the lottery in quality parts on that purchase from an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealership!