Hello all, I am desparately looking for answers to my dilema. I started my
85 300D TD (216K miles running WVO thru a greasecar kit) the other day to move it and got a weird pop sound and then the engine really got noisy and started to clatter. I still had oil pressure and thought that it might be an exhaust leak so I opened the hood and inspected. I was in a hurry so shut the car down w/in a couple minutes. Went to start the car a couple days later and it was still very noisy. Checked the oil, transmission fluid, checked for exhaust leaks but the oil pressure was still w/in range. Then I lost oil pressure all together. In total, I ran the engine about 10 to 12 minutes while making the unusually loud running noise and about 2 to 3 minutes with 0 oil pressure.

My questions are: What damage was done? Can I be relatively sure that it's the oil pump or could it be an oil passage block? Where can I find an aftermarket or refurb as they want almost $500 for a new one. Has anyone out there had this experience?