Here's my story and I'm stickin' to it. A few months ago, I was at my family's farm in VA. I discovered a small puddle of oil under the 240D. Tried to tighten the drain plug -- the thing stripped out.

No Mercedes dealer open over the weekend, and I needed to get back home the next day. The train was an option, but I wanted to bring the car back.

I bought a drain plug a few mm oversized (they didn't have self-tapping plugs of the right size), drill, tap, and gasket material from the local car parts store. I thought that there would be enough "meat" left in the oil pan to drill it out and put in the new plug. Nope. Drilling it out just ripped the inner nut out.

I ended up cleaning up the hole and finding a piece of iron fence post. Drilled and tapped the fence post, cut out an approx 1" by 1" section around the hole. Cleaned up the section and the mating part of oil pan with an angle grinder. JB-Welded it to the inside of the pan. I've changed the oil at least once, and the repair is holding!

One of these days, I'll pick up a new oil pan and install it.