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.

Now we're talkin! It's a 4 cylinder, but just what is a forward flex disk?

A hockey puck with bolt holes, that connects the drive shaft to the transmission flange. There's also one at the other end of the drive shaft, where it connects to the differential.

I don't know if you really need to worry about the flex disc, I did mine without and no ill effects.

I would recommend borrowing/renting a hoist. On mine I just undid the allen bolt that holds the bottom of the engine mounts to the front cross member and lifted away (Of course checking to make sure nothing is going to bind or be damaged, ie radiator hoses, exhaust system, electrical connections, ect.) There is only so much room to lift before the trans will run into the trans tunnel.

How long did she let the motor run after Mr. Toads wild ride?

Tinker

Tinker: Thanks for your added input. The benefit of others' experience is invaluable. My estimate is about 15 minutes of idle. There was some smoke from the leaking oil, but I did not hear any scary sounds. However, I had just been wakened and wasn't really tuned in to the situation, so I was not actively listening, either. I assume from the tone of your question that you have experince with both Mercedes and teenage daughters!

Just a small note, it might also help to detach the exhaust mainfold if there is not enough room to remove the pan, from my experiance the exhaust is what will stop you from lifting the engine first, then the transmission tunnel, tight fit, but it is possible.

xp

__________________
1985 190E 2.3L - a constant project.

Keep her for another 10 years? Hell, if she's driving, she should be out of the house in two or less...

John, i'm kinda under the impression that the steel will bend to failure, not really just shatter. Why not get under the car and see if you can patch-up the pan with some jb-weld or similar? I would be willing to do a whole lot of welding/jb-welding on the pan before I went to all that expense of removing the pan. You only need to make a seal with the repair, it doesn't have to hold for more than a half hour or so of non-pressured operation. As long as the pick-up tube isn't obstructed, you should be ok.

Assuming of course that no dirt-rocks got into the pan through the tear-in this case by all means to a r/r...

cheers,
dan

Re Daughter: She starts college this fall, but there's Law School after that..... so it could last a while!

Re Benz: I've now seen the car up on a hoist, there was no plastic sheild, the forward half of the pan did in fact shatter into at least a dozen pieces. However the engine will turnover by hand so it's not siezed. Body damage wasn't too bad, about $2200 (the book value is $4G). So it's going to be about another $600 for the tow bill and and installation of a used pan .... if I want to draw to the inside straight and get the chance to see if the engine is OK. Pending consultation with (permission from) my wife, that's what I intend to do.

Any bets, opinions or wild-ass guesses about how the engine will turn out?

FYI the 190E has 180,000 miles and has had no prior significant engine work done.