My 300SD has 300K+ miles on it and before I could replace the pump it stopped working so I replaced it and evrything seems OK.

After reading all the horror stories on vacuum pump bearing failures causing timing chain faliure etc etc. I realized the bearings are what failed on the old pump. The race and all were intact, just no bearings left.

My question is where'd the old bearings go? Do I have a ticking time bomb or did the bearings "drift" to the bottom of the oil pan?

Suggestions?

Thanks

__________________
________________
83 300SD 280K
78 240D 200K+ sold 10/07
94 BMW 740IL 220K

yup. pull the lower pan, and I bet you find your bearings. and other things, plan to clean off the oil pump pickup screen.