Hello again everyone. I've been a member here for quite some time but haven't posted in a long time. I crossed over to the diesel side for a while, 84 300sd. Liked it a lot but recently relocated to New Jersey from Oklahoma so I sold the SD prior to the move. When I got here I found and bought an 89 420sel, 136k miles with some records. The car seemed fine, good interior and exterior. The only problem was blue smoke on startup and oil consumption of about a quart per 800 miles. Soooo, two days ago after reading all I could on this forum I decided to replace valve seals. All went well and no more smoke on startup or any other time. Pretty proud of myself since I'd never done this job before. Then reality set in. The next day the car starts normally and I go for a drive, about 20 miles of interstate driving at 65-70 mph, then stop to fill up. When I pull into the gas station I hear a tapping sound from the right front of the engine. Kinda sounded like lifter noise to me, but I'm no expert. I drove the car home and by the time I get home the noise is gone. So I'm thinking maybe a piece of dirt stuck in the lifter and worked it's way out or something like that, no big deal right? Wrong!! Once back at home I notice the car is now running rough. It's dark out so I take a peek under the hood with the engine runmning and I can see a nice blue glow around three plugs. Plug wires shot, so I ordered a new set, haven't gotten them yet. I decided to take the car to the store around the corner and the tapping is back, only worse! I drive it nice and easy and the tapping comes and goes. But now the car is missing even worse and the noise gets louder. It now sounds more like a bolt was dropped into the engine! I get to about a block from my driveway and the noise stops, because the engine died!! Now for my question, do you guys think the timing chain went?? I had no symptoms before, no slapping at startup, nothing. I haven't pulled the valve covers to look at the chain yet, the car is still on the side of the street. I didn't even try to restart it, I was so heartbroken I just walked home. HEELLLLPPPPP!!

__________________
U. S. Air Force Air Traffic Controller
"U gotta keep 'em separated!!"