[tamathumper]

Connecting rods can also be damaged or bent by over-boosting (turbos), severe detonation or pre-ignition (pinging or knocking), or foreign objects in the cylinder (broken off spark plugs or valves, chunks of piston).

All of those are pretty serious things you'd hear or know about if it were your car all along, but something a typical seller would be certain to "forget to mention" once it was spackled over and put on the lawn for sale. The car will actually run with a slightly bent rod, but you run the risk of the piston rubbing on the cylinder wall, or worse.

Sorry, didn't see your call to end the thread as I was typing when you posted.