Hey Leaky....thanks for the feedback. It's been about 2,500 miles.
I checked the oil 2x over the course of 2,500 miles and the first time I saw this I thought it was a fluke. I then checked it again the other day and noticed this black stuff on the dipstick and through the fill hole.
The part that doesn't make sense is 1. The engine was already very clean from what I could see via the hole. 2. I've only used top quality oils in this car, including Mobil 1 and Amsoil, both of which never did this. Very odd.
It could be that ML uses a very high dose of cleaners/detergents, but then again, so does Mobil 1/Amsoil.
I'm going to drain it out soon and refill with the new dexos 1 ML 5w30.