Hi everyone,
I'm new to the site, but have read many threads previous to joining.
Here's my new project. We had this car towed in to my shop and this is what we discovered...

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The cams are locked up towards the rear especially on the intake side. Notice the discoloration and aluminum from the head protruding the cam journal.

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The oil was just changed in late August with Mobil 1 and was full when the hook dropped it off.

Here's the cam follower, it's worn but not destroyed.

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This motor is not original to the car and has approximately 95K on it.
Does anyone have an idea of what could cause this type of failure?
Thanks everyone...

 

Looks like the bearing seized, dunno what would cause that besides a random event, blocked oil passage, or debris in the oil.

 

I've read that the oil pumps have failed on these engines sometimes. And there were oil light issues on this vehicle a few months ago. However the oil sender was replaced and the issue wasn't mentioned again.
And being that the area of the engine with the damage appears to be the furthest components from the oil pump. (Which generally is what gets hurt first when an oil pump fails)
However I'm not sure of EXACTLY how the engine was running when it died. I wasn't driving the car and am going by what the driver has shared.

 

the oil passages for the chain tensioner screen sometimes get block with metal debris from a camshaft follower failure. It maybe fine now, but if it failed in the past. The metal circulates until it hits the screen.

All in all...... it need a new cylinder head.

 

It could be any number of things, but when my cam follower failed, my the entire head of my engine had to be replaced, not only the fuel pump and intake cam. My exhaust cam had serious grooving on the bearing so it couldn't be reused. My car never uses oil, but one thing that did happen long ago, makes me now wonder how well oil might have been getting to the top of the engine. I was visiting family, one winter, and my car had to sit outside. It's usually spoiled with a garage. I started the engine one very cold morning, and noticed it was quite loud. A minute after I pulled out of the driveway the low oil pressure light came on. I got the car back to the driveway, and parked it. The next day no loud engine and no light. I took the car to the dealer and they said that sometimes conditions are right so that the take up tube can form ice and block or restrict the oil moving to the top of the engine, triggering the light, but as soon as things warm, it goes away. I wonder if something like that could have been happening to your car, but not quite enough to trigger the light, but over time caused damage.