<Tom Young said:>
>You're at the point of rebuilding that engine, pure and simple.

Yea Tom, I tend to think you are correct. Its very painful to consider getting
rid of an engine that runs as well as this one does, in spite of the noisy
startup. Smooth, enough power, 20+mpg, and never failed me......... Bummer,
but I guess its time to start  going in that direction. Probably not gonna
happen soon tho. Maybe over the winter if I can find a decent job.

Meanwhile, I think I will let it be noisy once or twice a month, keep my AAA
up to date :-) and call it good.

Thank you for the explanation and ideas. I appreciate you taking time to help
me out.

John