[Power Hungry]

Aaron,

I can't believe how bad this is getting for you. It sounds like all they wanted to do was throw $15.00 oil change at it and blow you out the door.

Stupid question now, but did they happen to save any of the "gritty" oil they drained form the engine or the oil filter? Without question, gritty oil is a sign of a MUCH MORE SERIOUS PROBLEM and an oil change isn't going to fix it.

Given the nature of the issue and the gritty oil, it almost sounds like the timing chain followers/guides are getting worn down and particles are flowing into the oil. This is just a guess as I don't know the nature of the "grit" and whether it was metallic or plastic.

When you have a minute, start the engine and run it for a minute to sling oil onto the dipstick. Then pull the dipstick and check the oil. DO NOT wipe the dipstick down, but feel the oil to see if it has any sort of a gritty feel. Also, check the oil residue on the dipstick to see if there are any shiny "flakes" floating in it. If you see anything that looks like really fine glitter then it's a safe bet the engine is going to have to come out. If you don't see any shine particles but the oil still feels a bit gritty, then it's possible that the timing chain guides have become damaged and the timing chain is literally filing away parts of the plastic.

What also concerns me is that even if there is garbage in the oil, the filter should be handling it. What I'm afraid of is that whatever "grit" was in the oil may have actually clogged the filter to the point that it started to bypass it and pump unfiltered oil to the internals, which of course includes the cam phasers. You can see where this is going to end up and it's not good.

I don't know what else to tell you, but if there's anything we can do to help let us know.

Good luck.