here is a picture of the oil pan as removed from a 1991 350sdl 3.5 with 163k miles on the speedo owned by richard parker of perry ga.
the bolt came from the oil baffel and the large oval washer use to be round and is a spacer for the baffel, the oil pump inlet sets in the small inter circle that has been traced by the spinning of the bolt as the oil flows to the pump. as soon as the small spring washer gets unthreader from the bolt it goes to the oil screen and works a hole and it passes to the gear drive and then breaks the pump.
mb gets a f for this design,should never happen,that pump stops you have a bad crank and lots of small pieces. hope this helps some one.
larry perkins
lou ky
84 old cars

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That's terrible news.

How did the lockwasher manage to get through the screen??

not too long ago. he said it is sucked up onto the screen in the same place over and over and it just works around there til it wears a hole and is sucked into the pump.

i really need to get the side plate off my 350 and check for loose parts. in the pan.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I find this to be almost impossible.............there is a massive film of oil between the screen and the lockwasher.........how's the wear going to occur? Why would the lockwasher remain at the exact same place on the screen? Every time the engine shuts down, the washer falls off the screen........presumably.

The whole scenario doesn't make sense to me.

sounds like you wont take some ones word at all, u from missouri? lol just kidding. when i get time i will take a picture of the screen where a washer wore a path thru and locked a pump. its just a hastle for me to get these pictures on the forum, they always say the file is too big.
larry

I don't doubt your word one bit, Larry. I'm simply looking at it from an engineering perspective and it just seems unlikely that the washer could wear away the screen if there was a continuous oil supply between the washer and the screen.

I'd love to see those photos.

I'll shoot you an e-mail and you can send them to me directly.........full size.

Not always. I've had two oil pump failures while driving. The first was a 351 Windsor Ford. The cam gear and oil pump drive gear failed. Engine quit immediately. A new camshaft, lifters, and oil pump gear got it going for several thousand more miles. The second was a 427 Chevy. One of the hydraulic lifters started coming apart, and some pieces made it through the screen into the oil pump, locking it. It took me a second to realize the extra noise wasn't just the air compressor cycling (truck has air brakes) and notice the oil pressure gauge on 0. I shut it down quickly and it was towed to the shop. They fixed the lifter and put a new oil pump in it. Truck is still running on the original engine.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.