Took my 2016 E350 4MATIC for an oil change yesterday. Brought it home for a couple hours and then left to run a quick errand. When I got home I noticed a pool of fresh oil on the driveway. Called the shop and they sent a tow truck to bring it back to them. The shop owner called me back and told me the oil pan is cracked. They're having to order the part so it's going to be a couple days. He seemed to be struggling a little bit on the phone and I was trying to decipher his hesitation. It sounded like he couldn't imagine what they could have done to crack it, and that there wasn't oil outside where they parked it after they finished and before I got back to pick it up maybe 20-30 minutes later, and obviously I left and drove it home and he doesn't know what could have happened on my drive. He wasn't trying to blame me for it, but I think he was just trying to figure out how they could have cracked it. Don't get me wrong, he readily accepted responsibility and is paying for the repair because obviously they were the last ones to touch it. But he really seemed perplexed as to how they could have caused it. The place isn't a dealership but they're a seemingly well-regarded shop that just works on European cars. It's my first experience there but I had recommendations from friends and I read a lot of reviews before choosing them. Maybe I was stupid to not just go to a dealership and pay twice as much. On the other hand, he IS fixing it and I didn't have to hassle with him about it. He feels terrible about it, but doubly so because this is my first experience with them.

Anyway, I'm not a nuts and bolts guy so I have no clue. So I thought I would pose it here. I saw a few other threads that made it sound like this happens sometimes. Is this more common than he was making it seem? I'm trying to figure out why he was so perplexed about it.

 

It's a reasonably inexpensive part, but obviously the labor and required oil change will cost more than the pan. I have not heard of this being an issue at all, so something happened to it and his perplexing attitude is understandable.

 

Stories like that are that I DIY everything on my vehicles.
I can only guess the shop "grease monkey" over torqued the drain plug by 10 times what crack the pan.
I would wait for another call from the manager once he realize that engine needs to be removed for oil pan replacement.
Don't 4M have the pan with axles going thru it?
Good luck man.

 

Yeah, he did mention that. He was ordering the part while we were on the phone last night and he said it's something like $1,500 (just for the part) because it's the one with the axle going through it.

 

Gotcha. That makes sense. But if the shop didn't crack it while they were working on it, then it seems like it would have had to have been already cracked. So I can't figure out why it wouldn't have leaked before. Sure, something might have happened to cause it during my 9 mile drive home on flat, well-maintained suburban roads. It just seems like it would have to have been at least somewhat violent and probably memorable. I'm scratching my head - probably the same as the shop owner. Nonetheless, I get your point and appreciate the input. Thanks!

 

Without pictures or description of leak, we can only guess, but shops don't pick up $1500 bill without good reason.

 

Puddle at the top, the other 2 spots are tire tracks from the oil.

Not sure how much is there. Tow truck driver guessed over 1/2 qt. It kept leaking on the street and on the tow truck flatbed surface, so it didn’t leak a little and then stop.

 

I meant crack pictures

 

Well I was wondering what kind of magician you were to be able to diagnose something like this from looking at a puddle. But I had faith!! Lol (I don’t have pics of the crack, unfortunately.)

 

This looks like another reason to do top side extraction (as Benz recommends) on these cars. Yikes!

 

The engine has to be pulled for this? Wow! This is one of the worst oil change horror stories I've read.

I have one more prepaid maintenance left, after that no one but me will perform an oil change on my car. And that will likely be topside only, which I have been doing in between mid-way between annual dealer changes.

 

Not too many modern engines will allow pulling pan without raising the engine, or dropping lower cross bar.
I just had upper pan gasket fail on my 2017 Ford Powerstroke.
Small part cost, but 800 lb engine had to come out. Covered under warranty so don't know the cost, but don't think Ford is happy about it.
OP has 4M what has very complicated pan with pass-thru for axle. I would hesitate leave pan replacement to the shop who broke it, but that makes quite complicated legal issue. Is the shop having insurance?

 

I asked if he had to drop the entire motor and he said it wasn’t quite that bad but they had to remove a lot. He sent this picture but honestly I don’t know what I’m looking at.




Are you asking if he filed under HIS insurance, or under mine? It’s not under mine. I suspect he is using some type of insurance that covers his business for things like this. He mentioned something to that effect on the first night.

 

Update: They're not going to be done tonight. He said it's a 20 hour job. They're hoping to be done sometime in the morning.

 

That looks like new pan already in.
Still would be interested to see the crack and hear the explanation.
reputable shops have "screw-up" insurance, but it is coming with costly premium, so not lot of indies carry it. If he is having one, his premium is going to go high.

 

I’ll see what they say tomorrow. Maybe they have a theory now. This is definitely the most extreme oil change I’ve ever gotten.

 

You can tell what type of error by looking at the damage and by doing a microscopic examination of the metal where the part failed.

Taking a wild guess, the mechanic probably did not use a new gasket on the plug as required and applied excessive torque to get it to seal.

It's an Errors and Omissions policy. I had one when I operated a sole practitioner consultancy. For IT work, the cost was trivial.