I had that happen on my OM606 (twice) once it chewed up the timing gear that I had to replace, but the balls etc went down the oil pan and they sat in sludge there for years; however when I did a Kreen treatment I was able to retrieve what I could with a magnet from the Oil sender hole. My nephew is still driving it and probably has 320k miles now.

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06 MB E320 CDI 123k miles
14 Sienna (wife's DD) 36k miles
11 GL350 Bluetec 136k (Sold)
96 E300; 292k+ miles (Donated)
11 Sprinter 22K+ miles (Sold)