Yet another update:
Ok guys, here's an update.
Sorry I had to do it at night, I have no garage and no other time to do it other than when I get home from work. So here goes:
I drained the oil and took off the oil pan, gasket, and exposed the pistons/rods from below. Inside the oil pan was no debris. There were a few tiny metallic flakes, which I believe came from the drain plug. You guys would know better than I would. But these metallic flakes were few and far between. Please note that the picture is slightly exaggerated (cell phone cam), and whoever installed the oil pan gasket last caked sealant ALL AROUND the gasket, so a lot of that fell in while I was trying to get it out; you can see that in the leftover oil in the oil pan.
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/2323/0717090017.jpg
I could not discern any scoring. I grabbed the end of each piston rod to check for play; EACH ONE OF THEM (where I'm pointing) have a tiny bit of play, depending on what the position of the rod is. If the piston is up in the cylinder, there is almost no play. If the piston is down, there is a tiny bit of play. All of them, all 6 of them are like this. Is this normal?
Imageshack - 2008buickenclave1st.jpg
I don't know about rod bearings, because I couldn't see them. I think they were under these "caps", covered with 2 bolts; either way, I could not get these caps off.
So I installed a new gasket, put it all back together, took some photos and some videos, and here I am.
I leave it to you guys to have a look at these pictures and tell me if you see anything amiss.
Imageshack - 0716092359
Imageshack - 0717090000
Imageshack - 0717090009
Imageshack - 0717090010
Imageshack - 0717090011
Imageshack - 0717090013
I fired up the car. Here is a video of the car when the engine is cool. As you can see, it's completely silent; exactly how I want it to be. After a few minutes of warming up is when the chugging starts.
YouTube - 07 17 09 0244
Any input after this would be great. Also, you guys are much help; thanks for putting up with me; I'm learning as I go along.
