I purchased an 81 300sd for a couple of hundred bucks recently. I dropped the oil pan and found a blown apart roller bearing, and a couple of other chunk of metal. I inspected the timing chain, and the part of the crank visible with just the lower oil pan removed. Neither showed any visible sign of damage. I am able to crank the engine by hand. I do not feel any binding or hear grinding. It does feel as though the cylinders are making compression when hand cranking.

I also removed the Valve cover and did a valve adjustment. 5 out of 10 were a bit tight, and were adjusted accordingly. All the lobes showed no sign of scoring, wear or damage. Being that this car is close to 200k, the timing chain was tight and looked very good.

The inside of the valve cover sowed signs of metal contact. Looked like jagged etchings

Where could this metal have come from? I don't know where there is a roller bearing or where these other large random chunks may have come from. I have yet to try and fire the engine up, and glad I have not.


Any help or insight on where to look or inspect would be greatly appreciated!