Sorry it took so long to respond, loooong weekend. I really apprieciate everyone who has given me input so far, thank you all.

To recap and add in what i found out over the weekend, I will list all the symptoms a little more clearly ^^.

1. The problem only occurs after 10-15 minutes of driving (So once the temperature goes up).

2. When the engine gets hot and starts to make noise, it only does so at higher than idle RPM.

3. As soon as the noise starts, the oil pressure drops dramatically (oil pressure is usually at 3 whenever i am giving it gas, even if only a little; it drops to a little under 1 when giving it gas after the problem occurs).

4. The engine struggles to get from 35-40mph and has trouble going faster than 40mph. From what I could tell the noise seemed to be coming directly from the engine.


I talked to a friend of mine who is fairly knowledegable when it comes to cars (although, not much diesel experience) and he said it sounds like my Oil Pump is bad.

Does this sound like a reasonable assumption based on the symptoms? Is there any easy way to find out for sure?

If it is the oil pump, is this something a casual mechanic could do in a weekend with a friend? (i don't have my own garage, but could use a friend's for a weekend).

Any help regarding this is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-Arimus