you dont need the whole truck.

ebay often has v6 cdi motors for very reasonable money

you might be able to get away with 7-10k for the motor and 3-5k for the install.

 

$3-5k for a motor swap? How many hours do they say that job should be?

 

Racetoy - the oil sensor went bad on my '08 (sent a 'check oil at next fillup' message) when the oil was NOT low according to the dipstick. Dealer dropped the pan and replaced the sensor under warranty. But that was a different year than yours and a couple of years less 'mature' on the technology of oil sensors.
Since your wife drove it MOST of those 16k miles WITHOUT getting the message 'check oil...' I think the most reasonable cause is that the sensor was correct, and that the engine oil was NOT low until the last day when the warning came up. Most likely something like the oil passage to the turbo sprung a bad leak [the gaskets between the turbo and the connection to the engine have been known to let go and gush oil] and dumped ALL the oil out quickly. If that happened, there should still be plenty of signs of oil around the area of the break/leak - especially since at about 16k miles the oil will be nice and black. It is also true, that if there was a sudden loss of oil, the engines seize up very quickly (ask me how I know this!) and chances are, by the time your wife heard the chime and saw the message the engine was already dead for all practical purposes. In other words, the oil sensor would alarm at a quart or so low, but if the oil loss is rapid enough there will NOT be any oil in the motor by the time you actually need a fillup! In this scenario, the instructions to check oil at fuel fillup is misleading at best.
It would be very reasonable to ask the dealer who has the car to give you a detailed report, with pictures showing that a gross oil failure COULD NOT have caused the seize up.
As you stated, the car is under warranty - If there is/was a gross lube oil leak (not caused by a collision) then Mercedes owes you a new engine. If the leak WAS caused by a collision (think rock through the pan) then your insurance company owes you a new engine under the collision coverage.
It may pay you to hire an independent certified mechanic to do the mechanical forensics for you and then to be your technical 'mouthpiece' in discussions with the dealer. Your best chance is to make the dealer believe the loss of oil was sudden, find the cause of that, and go from there.
Good luck!

 

Thanks everyone for the ideas. Fourdiesel- there was no sudden oil loss. My wife works at a retail store that has a long drive . The night before, I picked her up from work and we went to supper. Because we were both going to work at 9 ( my shop is one mile from that store ) we decided to just go home in my truck . The next day she was to be at another store. I drop her off and head to work .she cranks it and heads out of the parking lot . 100 yards later it's locked up . If any oil had spilled I would have seen it .that store is brand new also, if it had dumped the oil we would have seen that.

 

The fact that there was no oil in the last places parked for a long time doesn't necessarily preclude 'sudden' oil loss.['Sudden' might also mean loss of oil over several hundred miles] It will still pay to give the motor a very close exam to find out just where the oil went and where it came from. If there are NO signs of external oil leakage then the oil was burned internally - think broken valve, bad rings, turbo compressor seal leak, other stuff.
I doubt that it would be worth the effort/expense but it might even be possible to remove the oil level sensor and calibrate it to see if it is still working as intended. Until you know the answer to that question you must assume it WAS working properly and that the crankcase wasn't a quart low until your wife first noticed ("with half a tank to go"). From that point on, the oil level dropped pretty quickly -for whatever reason. If it wasn't an external loss, it must have been internal because the oil went SOMEWHERE.
If it WAS the sensor that went bad and didn't provide any warning of impending doom, then THAT is reason enough for the warranty to cover the new engine.
Either way, I still think you need to do the research and have a very serious discussion with Mercedes.

 

I have read all of the above messages. I just find it very hard to believe that a 2010 $75,000 Mercedes would not warn you that the oil is low , and I mean running out, LONG before you acutally run out of oil. Do you really think "check oil at next fill up" is enough of a warning? So the car is telling you, go ahead, drive another 400 miles and then take a look to see if you may need some more oil. People on these message boards, who know a lot more about cars account for what, .0000001% of Mercedes owners? Has anyone here ever run out of oil before being warned, even in their 1995 Buick? I do not think there is any question that Mercedes is responsible. Something went wrong. I would fight this until the end.

 

^ Agreed. I'm not impressed by MB at all. I haven't had any major problems but I think this will be my last MB.

 

I think I have assumed every car I have owned since the early 90s has had both an oil pressure and oil level sensors. I personally don't think the vehicle would bun through all of its oil via putting off the oil change for what I consider a short period of time and usage.

 

The question IS: Was the low oil indicator on and was it ignored? Only the op's wife can answer that one.

 

Can't MB just plug a code reader into the vehicle and determine if/when any error codes were triggered? I'm pretty sure most modern cars have this capability.

 

I have stated several times that we got the low oil warning once . The dealer saw that in the code history. If we drove for months with this warning coming on then we would be stupid . You don't get to drive 60 thousand plus suv's being that stupid.

 

Ok a little update. Looks like there is a chance it's going to get covered by a third party. Its not a done deal but an additive was added to the oil . This may have caused the problem. If not then the goal of in additive is to extend the life of the oil reducing wear. In this case it may have changed the properties of the oil in a negative way. My dealer on the local level has been top notch.

 

Mercedes owes you a new engine. Bottom line.
Here's why. In the owners manual, the display your wife saw, and the same display confirmed by the dealer, is this:
"Check eng. oil level at next refueling
The engine oil level is too low. 􏰂
Check the engine oil level (􏰃 page 360) (except ML 500), or (􏰃 page 358)
(ML 500 only)."

There is also another more serious display that comes up in RED:
"Engine oil level
Stop car, turn engine off
There is no oil in the engine. 􏰂 There is a danger of engine damage.
Carefully bring the vehicle to a halt as soon as it is safe to do so in a safe location.
􏰂 Turn off the engine.
􏰂 Add engine oil (􏰃 page 361) and check the en- gine oil level (􏰃 page 360) (except ML 500), or (􏰃 page 358) (ML 500 only)."

According to your posts, this warning was not recorded by the dealer, and not seen by your wife.

Since Mercedes has two warnings, one to prompt for "casually" checking within 600 or so miles, and one for immediate action required, their warning system FAILED.
Any such failure on their part within the contracted warranty period is theirs.
Have your attorney explain this to MBUSA and arrange a loaner while they put a brand new motor in your ride.

 

Who put that additive in there and what is the additive?

 

Thanks dgiturbo. Your post is why I was asking for help . The dealer added it . Not sure of the product ....yet

 

Hey, no problem..
You also may want to show this to the dealer, again from the manual...

"Do not use any special lubricant additives, as these may damage the drive assemblies. Using special additives not approved by Mercedes-Benz may cause damage not covered by the Mercedes-Benz Limited Warranty.
More information on this subject is available at any Mercedes-Benz Light Truck Center."

And you say the dealer added this "additive"? Hope for their sake it was "MB" approved, which means again it's MB's fault. If it wasn't approved, well sucks for the dealer.
Either way, sounds like an "ace in the hole"

 

They added it prior to you buying the vehicle? If it was after you bought the vehicle then did they tell you they added something? I am extremely curious about this because seems awfully strange for them to put an additive in there.

 

It was added at the cpo service before we bought it . I'm sure it's some fancy high end stuff.

 

there are no mb-approved oil additives at this time.

if the dealer has added anything in the oil than it is between the dealer and the oil additive vendor

 

which brings up the question of why a mb dealer would add oil additives to the car? it they did do it, it's shocking to me that they would admit to it.

 

racetoy - Its beginning to sound more and more like you will come out OK on this - either because the dealer added an additive not approved by M-B or because of the oil level system failing to provide adequate and timely warning of impending 'doom' for the engine. Either way, the dealer should put a new engine in and sort it out internally who pays, the dealer, the additive maker or Mercedes. It WAS sold CPO after all that MUST mean something when an engine seizes!

 

Since you bought the GL at 16,000 miles, did you get a "service due" annunciation at 20,000 and 30,000 miles? On my GLK and ML you get this every time you start the car when you are due for a regular oil change.

 

I do hope that everything is picked up by MBUSA, or the dealer. In event that this all goes terribly wrong, and you get stuck with the bill. I would be dammed if i would hand over the repair money to MB or the dealership. I'm sure you could source a used engine for far less. I would, spend my good money anywhere else other than MBUSA or the dealership. The corner gas station would be paid to install that new used engine. I would never reward the offending dealer or MBUSA with $30,000 repair. I always spend my money where I can with the people I feel deserve it, or appreciate it. Steve

 

I guess you have to give them credit for admitting culpability. It makes you wonder though if this dealership has seen this happen with other cars they put the additive in. My guess is that there are others.

 

This is the first time I've had time to read this thread. I too am not independently wealthy and work hard to afford a GL.

First, as some of the others have stated, including yourself, you/your wife were plenty naughty running the vehicle for 16,000 miles without service. You should have gotten service reminders every time you started the vehicle and must have ignored them. They start at 1,000 miles to service. I don't know how long after you exceed the mileage they go since I get mine serviced, but it I know I've run a few hundred miles over and they still happen.

Next, I can speak from recent experience on my GL. I typically get a 'check oil at next stop' message at about 11,000 miles into a service interval. My GL has me do service about every 13,000 miles. I just had it 2-3 times a couple weeks ago. I'm 1500 miles from next service according to the computer. Since I am about 90 miles from the dealer, I ignored it for a those 2-3 times since I knew I'd be up at the dealer getting service in a couple weeks.

Well, on Monday of this week my Check Engine Light came one. I called mBrace and they told me to check the gas cap, see if it goes out after a few start/stop intervals. I then remembered I had gotten the 'check oil at next stop' message and panic ensued. I drove straight to a local oil change place I use for my other cars. I knew they carried mobile 1 products and hoped they had the European blend oil our MB needs. Well, they did have it, and put in 2 quarts for me. They didn't charge me for it (which was awesome). I did put the gas cap on and off as well while I was there, but I don't really think that was it since the gas was at about 1/3 tank. I would have expected that to come on soon after the last refuel.

I started it up and the check engine light was still on, so I figured I must have something else wrong and would have to head to the dealer. I drove home, the next morning the CEL was not on when I started the car up and hasn't been on for a few days.

So for my experience, I think the check oil warning came on when it started to get low, then the check engine light came on when it got below another threshold.

That took awhile, this is getting to be a long post. My point of telling you all this is what I see as really two scenarios.
1) If your wife went through all the warnings about service intervals and never noticed them or took action, it makes anyone wonder if she would have noticed and taken action on the check oil or check engine warnings. To me that's hard to imagine. They are annoying. My wife would have told me and expected attention.

2) Perhaps none of your warning messages are ever coming up and there is something wrong with your onboard diagnostics? Perhaps your wife never received any service interval messages, never saw the check oil messages or check engine lights when they should have come on - because they never happened. For some reason the one check oil message and the check engine light happened only after catastrophic failure.