stevzie

TL;DR - oil plug fell out of my 2015 ML250 diesel (about 70k miles). Engine is toast. Dealer that did last service won't help.

My wife is driving on a 2 lane highway about 100 miles from home. ML250 sputters. She pulls over to see oil draining out under the engine and a trail of oil down the highway from where she came. AAA is called and they tow it to a Mercedes dealership near the breakdown.

That Mercedes dealer finds the oil plug missing and metal shavings in the oil filter. (See the pictures). The dealer that we purchased from as a certified, pre-owned vehicle is denying any responsibility. They say "We don't touch the plug to do an oil change. We use a vacuum system to suck it out the dip stick tube." That dealer had done a service B (including an oil change) on December 31st.

Any ideas how to proceed? Car is worth $20k-$24k (you know, when it has a working engine). The loan with MB financial services is currently for about the same amount. A re-manufactured engine is about $9k - don't have a quote on labor to install it.

MercedesBenz USA doesn't seem to want to take a role. Any ideas how to get somebody from Mercedes interested enough to be an advocate?

Appreciate the advice.

Steve

Missing oil plug.

Metal in the oil filter.