Can anyone tell me how to go about replacing a destroyed oilpan. My daughter ran over a mailbox and the surrounding large rocks and then stopped at a tree! I'm trying to determine if the car is worth fixing, but I've been told that it will take $500 just to replace the pan so that I can fill the engine with oil and see if the thing is destroyed or not. That info and the estimates for body and frame repair will tell me if I need to part it out or I can keep my little baby for another 10 years. So I'm trying to determine if I can possibly replace the pan myself. What will I need to do? Do I need any special tools? I do not have an air wrench, will one be needed?

On the W201, the engine needs to be lifted off the motor mounts to remove the pan, since there is a chassis crossmember running under it. Not really a job for someone without a wrench.

However, did the car have the plastic engine bottom cover fitted? Mercedes used the cover to improve sound deadening and aerodymanics, but it also served a little duty as an oil pan sheild.

Sorry, that was to have read that I didn't have an AIR wrench. The car is at the shop now, but the pieces that I found probably were plastic. However the oil pressure gauge read zero and there was oil all over the ground, so I imagine that the pan was also punctured, while the cover was shattered.

Having disassembled a W201 last year, I can tell you that, due to German engineering and crafty design, 99% of the car can be disassembled with hand tools, an occasional helper and beer, of course.

OK that's settled. Air wrench not needed.
Not wanting to shell out 100 bucks for the MB repair CDs, and Haynes not publishing any specific manuals on this car, leaves me with the following questions?
Just how do you remove the engine mounts? Then what do you do?

Thanks MTI, I appreciate your help.

I couldn't tell from your post if you have the 2.3L 4 cylinder or the 2.6L 6 cylinder.

For the 2.3L, remove the bolts to the engine and transmission mounts. They are metric bolts and you'll need a breaker bar and an extension. I would suggest undoing the forward flex disk as well to avoid damaging them. Using hydraulic jacks with a wide saddle under the left and right motor mounts and the transmisson, lift the engine slowly without touching the oil pan itself. Once the engine is high enough, undo the bolts and work the pan off and out. If you have an engine hoist, ignore the jacking part. It's going to be a tight fit, so take some time. As you are laboring, just remember that the alternative is to remove the engine and trans from the car.

Once the pan is off, clean off the old gasket and adhesive completely, then reapply the new gasket with sealer. Carefully tighten the pan in a x-cross pattern to avoid warping the pan seal. The torque setting for the bolts are 7ft/lb. The motor mounts get torqued to 30, the crossmember mount to 37.