Pieces In Oil Pan
 

I'm not sure how many pieces are left, but it was enough to drop the oil pressure down to zero as I was driving on a long stretch of highway. Had to pull over and get towed. I drained the oil and then blew compressed air through the dipstick tube to get as many of these pieces out as possible. Anyone else have any experience with broken guide rails in the pan? How significant is this? Meaning, other than monitoring the pressure, how critical is it to get this fixed? I'll need to purchase an engine lift.

It looks like pieces of one of the chain guides or tensioner slide piece.

Agree it is probably from a broken timing chain guide. How critical is it? VERY much so, as in don't drive it. The oil intake is being restricted and the timing chain may break or be hitting something/ damaging another component and shredding material into the oil.

The engine should come out, the oil pan off and the front cover removed, unfortunately this is a TON of work. Inspect a couple of bearings for oil starvation, look at the ones farthest from the oil pump first. Thoroughly clean and examine the oil pump intake for blockage and open the oil pump to look at it internally.

Good luck!!!

Most likely oil pump chain tensioner failed, chain came off sprocket.

On the high mileage diesels I have disassembled the oil pump chain tensioner
guide typically shows the most wear.

Thank you all for the info. at this time I can't get the engine out. I don't have a hoist, but I did drain the oil and remove the oil level sensor. I was able to retrieve more of the railing. The attached photo is only about half of what I got out. None of the railing was curved, so only the driver side was destroyed. I flushed the pan with several quarts of oil after running compressed air from the top cam shaft oil rail. Changed the oil and cranked it over with the valve cover off to check for function and peek down at the rear timing cover at the chain......huge mistake I nearly lost about a quart of oil spraying all over the engine bay and all over the exhaust. I properly buttoned everything back up and checked the actual pressure gauge this time and it's idling at 2.5 bar cold and drops down to about 1 -1.5 bar 80C. Pressure jumps up to 3 bar when I give it gas. I have a few m103 engines sitting around and was able to pull the cover off of one to get an idea of how it works. I removed the guide rails and it appears that as long as the chain has proper tension from the tensioner there isn't any issue with the chain flopping around. At any rate, I'm going to shop around for a hoist so I can lift the engine and refit new railings in. Looks like I'll be swapping out this 2.6 for the 3.0L sooner than I thought. About 515k miles currently on the 2.6L

pull the pan and clear everything. do this-

unhook and unbolt the exhaust, support it at the rear with a bungie cord. DON't let it hang, broken pipe or manifold.

remove fan, shroud and radiator hoses.

unbolt the motor mounts and hike it up with an engine hoist. get it high enough and the pan can come out. been 20 yrs since i've done this so i might've forgotten something.

pull the valve cover and crank the motor by hand to make sure all the bits are out. a piece caught it the chain will make it jump. with all the pieces in hand, assemble the puzzle. any hunk missing will mean an issue. good luck, chuck.