My 01 Escape 3.0 with 85K on it quit on me the other day. It started making a knocking noise but ran perfectly fine. Oil was fresh but I changed it anyway but made no difference. We pulled the intake and valve covers to see if it was a timing chain tensioner and all seemed to be well. We pulled the wire to each coil to see if we could isolate a cylinder where the noise might be coming from and there was no change in any of them. Noise continued. Changed oil again and put 20/50 in it to see if the noise would diminish and it did when cold but came back when warm. So, I'm driving to work the worst day of the winter so far and it dies. Still cranks but nothing. The vehicle was my father inlaws and he bought it new. Almost all the miles are in town except for maybe the last 15K. We're thinking spun main but won't know until we get the pan off. I'm thinking the worst and hoping for the best but if I need to pull the engine what is the EASIEST way to do it? Manual says out the bottom as a unit with trans and transfer case. Looks like the engine alone would come out the top. Anyone done this? Thanks in advance!