Oil pan smashed

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CEB - 27 Mar 2006 08:03 GMT

Yesterday I smashed the oil pan of my 1993 190E 2.6 against
a concrete median strip. The pan is torn wide open on one side near the
bottom and the oil is gone.

Lots of traffic and no place to get off the road--I wasn't able to get
to a safe parking spot for about 6 blocks--speed was 25 mph. Some oil
under the engine where parked, but not much.

When I shut the engine down, it was running OK, but power seemed low and
there was mild lifter chatter (?). Oil pressure was zero, but there were
no warning lights at all and no apparent overheating. Nonetheless,
looking at it, I assume that most of the oil was lost immediately.

It'll be towed to the dealer tomorrow morning. What repairs should I
expect? I'm expecting the worst, but would appreciate some idea of the
likely problems.

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T.G. Lambach - 27 Mar 2006 09:09 GMT

Horrible luck. But a good empathetic description of the event and its
immediate aftermath.

Call your auto insurance company to see if this potential damage is
covered by your policy.

"It'll be towed to the dealer tomorrow morning." That's a mistake, IMHO.

Dealers' mentality is to make everything as good as new - that's why
their jobs are so expensive. But that's what many owners want - good as new.

Expect the dealer to say that you need a new $6,500 engine. (Remember,
they're selling you something - an engine, peace of mind or ?)

An independent shop would pull off the pan, look inside for any rock
damage, perhaps check a bearing or two - or not - install a new pan,
fill the oil and run the engine and THEN opine on its mechanical
condition. Its probably OK - not as OK as last week but OK enough to
reliably power the car.

So it may be up to you to live with a bit of gnawing doubt or you may
say "I'll just wait until the ax falls - if it ever does - for I can
always buy another engine."

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Dori A Schmetterling - 27 Mar 2006 13:41 GMT

Not necessarily

Having gone over a speed bump rather too quickly I had a cracked sump. I
had the car towed to the dealer.

They diagnosed the above and charged for it (something around 400 pounds
incl tax IIRC). No hint of new engine etc, but maybe my damage was less
than that of the OP's.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[...]

> Dealers' mentality is to make everything as good as new - that's why their
> jobs are so expensive. But that's what many owners want - good as new.
>
> Expect the dealer to say that you need a new $6,500 engine. (Remember,
> they're selling you something - an engine, peace of mind or ?)

[...]

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Paul - 27 Mar 2006 13:27 GMT

The same thing happened to a customer of mine, 87 300E. We replaced the
pan, filled with oil, started and all seemed well. Then we changed the oil
and filter to get out any debree left from the disaster. Car runs fine,
good oil pressure, still not burning any oil, etc. And this car was run
until it stoped (His daughter was driving it at the time.)
Paul

> Yesterday I smashed the oil pan of my 1993 190E 2.6 against
> a concrete median strip. The pan is torn wide open on one side near the
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> expect? I'm expecting the worst, but would appreciate some idea of the
> likely problems.

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