AHHHRG! 300td drama. Debris! NEED ADVICE PLEASE!

Hi,
I wish I could have joined this forum under better circumstances, but I'm having a bit of a crisis. I've had low oil pressure, around zero at idle on in-dash PSI gauge, which jumps up a little unevenly and doesn't peg until 2000+ RPMS.

I decided to change the oil pump after changing the oil filter shaft o-rings with no change.

So I remove the old pump to find 12 or so ball bearings inside of the screen. There is also pieces of the cage which held the balls. They are about the size of the balls in a bicycle hub maybe 3-4 milimeter.

My questios are:

1) Where is the bearing from????

2) Will replacing the oil-pump possibly help? If not I can still cut my losses and return the pump.

Any other advice is welcome. I am stuck in my shop as this is my daily car so please respond!

My car is a '79 300td non-turbo. Thanks again.

[JimSmith]

vegdieseler,

It is feasible that these bearings came from the vacuum pump. This unit has a "wobble-plate" arrangement with a follower that rides on the uneven surface of the plate with ball bearings. The rotating motion of the plate is converted to linear motion to actuate the pump diaphragm by the follower.

Has this item been replaced lately? I can't think of another place where they may have come from, so if you have not replaced the unit recently I would definitely have it checked, and replaced if needed (or do it yourself) right away. Good luck, Jim