Destroyed crankshaft key

My baby is in the hospital after a couple major surgeries and I'm scratching my head as to the issue here. Been following this forum forever to make all sorts of repairs.

Brought her into mechanic with a small oil leak, diagnosed as a crankshaft seal. They make the repairs and I go on my way. 20 miles later, flashing check engine light and substantial shake. Limp back to mechanic and they tell me ignition coil #4 is bad, and tell me they swapped coils and issue followed. Limp back home (just 2 miles) and replace coils and spark plugs.

Now she won't turnover. It'll start by turning the key but dies after 1-2 seconds.
Scoured the forums and reseated everything, etc. Same
Starter spray got about 10s of run time.
Mobile mechanic comes. Says fuel pump. Followed a great video that told me to remove the bed to access. Pump replaced, same issue.

Mobile mechanic comes back. Unplugs MAF and car starts and turns over just fine. I replaced that. Same issue.

Scratching head, texted mechanic in frustration "also not the problem". He returns for free and in an evening of troubleshooting, something comes loose and the crankshaft belt/pulley wheel is making contact with the fan.

Tow to original mechanic. They pull the wheel and find the key is gone, and the inside of the wheel is wrecked.

Soemthing is really wrong here and I feel they are all related but just can't put it all together.

Could the crankshaft repair be the culprit? Did everything go wrong all at once?

 

Based on what you said and the work the was done it would seem to me that Shop/Mechanic A that did the crank seal didn't properly install/torque the harmonic balancer/bolt and/or didn't install the key properly which could have allowed the balancer and timing gear to "walk" on the crank and wear the keyway and key to the point that cam and crank timing became out far enough to cause a driveability issue which was then likely misdiagnosed by Shop/Mechanic B.

Now without knowing the whole story from all sides and the details on the truck like what engine it has this is just my educated opinion, it would be difficult to point fingers without having all the details on what was exactly done.

 

Certainly a couple of misdiagnoses by mechanic B, but he owned up and stuck with it after strike 2.

Given the symptoms and a little more research, I tend to think it is all related to the crankshaft work by Mechanic A. Issues with misfiring (diagnosed with computer after CEL showed) seem kind of related?

Running for 20 miles just fine seems odd too, but if it came loose... Who knows when.

Thanks!

 

I hope that the crankshaft timing gear is still on the woodruff key, if not and it spins free on the crankshaft there are probably bent valves. IIRC the harmonic balancer bolt is a one time use bolt.