Called the mechanic today to get their diagnosis and they told me that the problem with my car...that was making a horrendous racket in the bellhousing area...that stalled at idle and sounded about ready to blow up...was...are you ready for this?...nothing. Yes, they started it up after the tow, let it warm up, drove it around, listened, put it on the rack and visually inspected and found that absolutely nothing was wrong.

Nor is the car making the terribly concerning sound anymore. The guy said, "Well, a heat shield on the exhaust is rattling and there's a crack in your downpipe - that's all we could find that might be making a noise." Sure enough, noise is gone, car drives fine, and I think I know why my milage has sucked too (fresh air entering pre-O2 sensor). Charged me only half an hour labor for what probably took an hour to check out. Very decent fellows.

Anyway, is it possible that the tow truck driver, while he was pulling the car up on the roll-back, knocked whatever was making the noise loose? I could swear I saw the goober put the car into Drive to wench it up on the truck, could that have spun the tranny enough to dislodge whatever may have been in the torque converter? Could a small rock, carefully aimed, have made it up into the bellhousing the other day - it was a gravel covered road - and wreaked havoc in the torque converter until it fell back out??

This will drive me nuts, but at least it will drive me, if you get my drift.

Thanks for all the help guys, even when you can't say "Oh, no problem, here's what's wrong..." you fellows are a priceless resource of auto knowledge to bounce ideas off of.
--
Sean - now frolicking in the Land of a Thousand 240's (aka, Fredericksburg) thrice a week.