97 DOHC Chain Guide broken

[Lorenzo]

Hi everyone!
I have a 97 limited with a DOHC 12 valve engine and it has blown a hole through the valve cover (size of a dime) on the drivers side and you can see the timing chain directly above the head on the exhaust manifold side. I removed the valve cover and found the tensioner intact, but the chain guide in pieces. I managed to retrieve two large plastic pieces, but suspect more has fallen down into the chain area of the main crank sprocket. Has anyone seen this before? Should I spend the time to remove the front of the engine chain cover? Would the chain have jumped a tooth? The engine runs smoothly but has a grinding sound probably caused by the chain grinding the guide plastic chunks.
Please help!!!!!

 

[btexpress]

There was a Ford recall for chain guides, 01M01, but looks like it expired. Chain guide failures are much too common on this engine. As far as I know common practice is to replace all the chain guides while the timing covers are off. Running it with a broken guide will just cause more damage which equals more expense.