Obviously this has been a pain in my ass for the past few weeks so sorry for not updating diligently.
I never had to call around to so many shops until I found a mechanic that actually had a pair, was willing to do the work, has done it a few times before, has been successful with it, and has good reviews. You know, that moment when you realize you're talking to the right person, and are now hoping your gut is right.
So he tore it down and we agreed on hitting some of the replaceable stuff on the way back out to save on near future labor costs. Got the analysis today, and OMFG I knew it would cost, but it still made me a little weak in the knees. I barely eeked out "so in your opinion, is it worth fixing, or dropping in another engine?"
Now I don't think he actually cursed, but I swear I heard him say "Fu** no, that engine is in great shape, fix it." In that moment I got my nuts back and the voices in my head sounded like Wilma and Betty screaming "CHAAAAAARGE IT".
So now we wait...
If it says anything about the design of this engine, the first mech and all his guys said "we're not sure how you're NOT having problems, but we're not touching this repair". They handed me a baggie with the parts they found in the oil pan shown in the pic. I almost died on the spot.
Yes, I played jigsaw and debated some JB Weld, but opted against it. I said if this is what they found, where are the rest of the parts.
Sure enough, my new best mechanic friend found the rest of the parts wedged in, around, and all over the chain. Again, this damn thing refused to let go, skip, hop, jump, whatever, but I'm glad it didn't. He said it caused some damage, I can't imagine it not having caused some damage. He said it looked like it was going to fall apart if I had driven it a few more blocks. There was a lot of luck and a few angels at play here; before seeing the baggie and before replacing the slowly leaking rear main seal, I took the truck for a 300 mile joyride.
But every one of us looked at the bag of parts and were truly about WTF and how the hell? I mean most of my not wanting to give up on the truck was how smooth and quiet (it's a Trac I say that loosely) everything was. Playing back all the events in my head... now it all makes sense, but for noise, you'd only hear it at start up with the doors open, and occasionally if driving with the windows down.
And yes I cursed at the plastic and said "eff you you piece of plastic; you cannot be the death of my Trac."
