Shop forgot to put oil!!!!
 

Hi guys I just purchased a 1998 E300TD and took it to my mechanic who specializes in mercedes to do an oil change. This was done a few days ago. I drove home, which is about 10 miles from the shop. This morning when i went to start the car I heard the car knocking. I turned off the engine and checked the oil only to find that it was at the minimum mark! Do you think I may have done any damage to the engine? Any help is appreciated. My car has 95K miles on it currently.

Have you put oil in? Did it stop the noise? If there's oil on the dipstick at all, it should be enough for the engine.

Most likely scenario is they changed the filter too and did not top it off after the filter filled...if it shows min, then just add til it shows 1/2 way mark...they did not forget to put oil in, they just did not top it off.
What is the oil gauge /level indicator say ???????

Is the car perfectly flat? Nothing wrong with having the oil at the min mark, its their for a reason.

It also needs to be checked after sitting a few hours as it uses syn oil that takes a long time to drain down to the pan and regisiter correctly.

What did the oil pressure gauge say? That would most likely be the best indicator of whether you had pressure or not, no?

???????

Oil level should be measured after the car has been sitting for a while... If you measure the oil on the dip stick immediately after shutting it down and several hours later you won't get the same level. That's because a lot of the oil all over the engine slowly drains down to the crankcase, which is the only spot the dip stick measures in. Granted it's not much of a change, but it's there. You can actually over-fill engine oil by "topping it off" when it's running or freshly shut off. Don't ask how I know... :-)

Making sure the car is level is more important though.

I don't see how synthetic vs. dino would have anything to do with it. That should be totally irrelevant, although heavier weights would slow down the process and thinner oils would speed it up.

Back to the original subject though - as long as there is oil on the dipstick's range, the engine will be fine. Just fill it up to the center of the range.

Thank you so much you guys for putting my mind at ease you guys rock!

That's good...but you have at least 2 posters that asked about oil pressure gauge readings...that was asked to help diagnose the possibility of engine damage..[ b/c you mention knocking]
When we ask a question back it is usually to aid you in your posting and aid us in diagnosis, so maybe you can answer our questions as we have answered yours?
That would help both you and the group following the post.
Thanks

The thinking is that synthetic adheres to surfaces better then traditional oil.

That may be why some suggest synthetic not only flows quicker at start-up but also leaves a film of oil on surfaces that reduces wear when re-starting.

Your statement is not universally true. The owners manuals in many cars made in the last 10-12 years state that oil should be checked on a fully warmed up engine 3-5 mins. after shutting it off.

The "let it sit over-night" or "wait an hour or so" concept no longer applies in all cases.

One has to follow the instructions given in the mfg-provided owners manual.

I would love to see scientific evidence that synthetic oil of a given viscosity takes longer to drain down than it's conventional counterpart.

I know that you lift many more hoods in a day than I do in a year, but, my expirience with my E300 using syn oil is that it takes a long time for the to drain to the pan and that if measured minutes after shutdown that it will oftentimes show a 1/2 qt low reading. The reading is also sensitive to level ground as others suggested.

To the other posters questions concerning oil pressure gauge readings the 98-99 E300 doesnt have one.

This is exactly what the owner's manual says for my '96.

Im sorry im a newbie how do I check the oil pressure?

I'm going to keep checking my oil after it sits overnight, when most of the oil is in the pan and I can really see how much oil is there.

I can tell you this...the oil will wick up the dipstick so you should wipe it off, reinsert it, withdraw and read it. I especially see this on aircraft engines where the oil is generally thicker than what cars use.

And for the original poster of this thread, diesel engines are noisy and the oil pressure gauge is the gold standard for verifying that oil is being circulated thru the engine, not the dip stick.

The car has an Oil Level Indicator on the dash..did that show low oil ??
If NO , you are OK and it just needs topping
Your original post stated they Forgot to put in the oil. That did not happen .

Is there not an oil pressure gauge in the instrument cluster in front of the steering wheel?

Well, I'm amazed. It appears there is no oil pressure gauge in that instrument cluster.

Oil Level Indicator...so, if they forgot to add the oil , they would certainly have seen the Warning indicator..even if it was just low.. they may also have just gone by the indicator instead of the dip-stick.
Should be fine and use the Dip Stick ..1/2 way mark is fine at 20C

There sure isn't. That was deleted.

There's nothing wrong with checking your oil after sitting overnight, especially if you don't consider the "Min" mark to be a good place to leave it. You're less likely to overfill it that way.

With the gas versions of this era you can check the oil level from the dash and the display will tell you if OK or 1 or 2 qts low, etc.

The E300's of the same years do not have that feature; they only display the low oil level warning.

Thanks agian for all the responses. The Oil Level Indicator on the dash did not show low oil and the E300 does not have a oil pressure gauge in the dash so there is no way for me to tell the oil pressure.

Can we conclude that there is a lazy glow plug or guykoh did not wait for the glow light to extinguish before starting? If oil level wasn't an issue, that is.

Sixto
87 300D

Hi!
I notice today that most manual or maybe mine says to put 6.1/5 us quarts in this here E430, it actually take 8.1/5 US quarts, so don't trust your manual double check your oil before thinking you got it done.