Catastrophic engine failure
 

Apprently caused by a number of bolts relieving themselves of their duty that is securing baffling/splash guard found between the oil pan and the block. Two bushings ...or spacers; made their way through the rigid filter screen of the oil pump and into the inner workings. This at 75 mph down I-76. (91 350sdl. 252,xxx miles) OM603.970

Wow, I've never heard of that happening. Hope you can find another engine close by.

Pretty wild right? I found one! Not nearby but I got lucky & have all the right players. ��

Hate to see that for you. Did you get any kind of warning?

synonyms for unbelievable:

incredible, beyond belief, difficult to believe, scarcely credible, inconceivable, unthinkable,

unimaginable, unconvincing, far-fetched, implausible, improbable, impossible,

hard to swallow, mind-boggling, mind-blowing

Fixed Full does indeed seem a bit "full".

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/411440-om603-low-oil-pressure-sometimes-showing-0-a-2.html

See post #20. Same experience, it could happen, not impossible. Vacuum pump bearing ( VP failure ) found its way into the sump, guard mess worn out and bearing hit the gear pump. It did not jammed the gears but instead ejected and broke the oil pump casing. See picture. May be the ball bearing is round, unlike a nut. I replaced the pump and all is well.

Did you find out where the nuts came from? All I can see from the pictures is oil pump failure, NOT the engine. I cannot see how a nut can get into the engine sump? Loose nuts can only be cam tower nuts. Any other possible loose nuts?

My bad, cam tower are bolts. Where the nut came from? Unless someone drop it from the oil refill opening.

where the nuts came from is probably a place you will want to replace them.

Not knowing the prior maintenance history, anything is possible. Who knows if someone had serviced the pump prior and failed to torque appropriately..

Either way whether rebuilding or swapping in another, may be wise to check the fittings and locktite if rebuilding.

I had been looking into a stumble that I suspected was a fuel delivery issue. It does appear that one of the spacers spent more time bouncing around in there than the other.

I have nothing constructive to add, other than that I hope you can get it fixed. Best wishes.

@M Welch; ya no fixing

@Ah-kay; not nuts but bushings. I cant see how they would breach the screen after I didnt see how they left the block.

If you are near NC, i have a few donors...

@vstech....Colorado

Interested in this as a connoisseur of rod bender w126 cars.

Did you pull the engine and oil pan to find this? I’m not familiar with what is actually on the oil pan and bolted in.

Was any prior engine work done that would cause this?


I have heard of other engines having some bolts fall into the oil pan and wear through the oil pickup. I checked bolts on a BMW M42 because of that once.


But what’s with the 603/126 that would cause this?