Oh crap. What should I do?

[Mike_Yi]

Originally Posted by Steve Tinker

Ah - ha.....
Metal in the oil filter, cylinders missfiring - this sounds familiar, and I'll bet there's metal particles in your sump too.
Mike, ask your mechanic how he knows its main bearing metal and not big end bearing metal - they are both white metal plain bearings. He may or may not have put a magnet on the debris, but if the metal is ferrous, it could well be your IMS bearing assembly breaking up.

Interesting. Tell me more. If I have him put a magnet to the metal bits and they are magnetic, or not, what does that mean? Assume it was the IMS bearing breaking up. Would that mean the engine would be salvageable just by changing the IMS bearing? I though when those went it was catastrophic. If it is the IMS bearing, would there be a chance that the rest of the engine is damaged too?\

If I could just replace the IMS bearing, I could bear those expenses.

Then again, if the IMS was to the point where it was effecting the timing, isn't it likely that there was valve to piston contact?

Would the tensioner also be a potential culprit? Could the metal bits be from the tensioner?