Silent shaft sprocket broke off

Hi guys I'm new here but have got alot of good information from this forum. I just bought a 86 mighty max from a guy and he said the sprocket broke off the silent shaft and busted a hole in the timing chain cover. He said the engine shut off immediately when that happened. My question is why would that cause the engine to die it seems like it would keep running without the oil pump working and eventually shut off from damage caused by lack of lubrication. What do you guys think?
I have limited experience working on engines but want to learn more about them and am hoping to use this truck for a educational experience.
Thanks,
Kevin

If it burned a hole in the cover. There is a good chance it lunched the engine.
I had it happen but was only 2 minutes away from home. I didn't burn a hole but I shut down and costed then ran for 10 seconds to get it there.
Bring over some jumpers and fire it up. If he says no they you walk. Nothing to loose.
But no more then $350 - $400 for it.
Tell him it's going to take 2K to get it working proper again.

Thanks for the reply camoit.
I already bought it for $400 and am trying to get a guess what I need to do to get it running. If I start it to listen without the oil pump chain will it damage the engine.

If it's a 2.0 it has 2 belts, not chains. One belt runs balance shaft and cam. The other runs the oil pump as I recall.

What ever came loose probably took out both belts. Could just be belts would fix it if your lucky.

I bought an 87 conquest that the chain on the silent shaft to the oil pump came off due to sloppy rebuild work done on the motor - seized the main bearings and ruined the crank.

It's a 2.6 and the oil has been drained for a year. I haven't had a chance to turn it over yet I'm waiting for the temperature to come back up above 0. Considering it has had no oil for so long what do i need to do to lube the engine before i try turning it over to listen to it?

No Oil = no Engine. Number one cause of engine seize. Besides driving into a brick wall at 100mph ;)

Without the gear on the shaft that spins the oil pump, there is nothing you can do to prelube the motor to turn it over. The shaft needs fixed first. You could put a socket on the crank to see if the motor is free, but that is all you can do. If by some miracle it is free, it won't be if you run it without the oil pump.

I had new chains and sprockets installed in a 4G52 way back but the guy who did the work screwed up a circlip (?) causing the shaft to creep out. Destroyed the chain sprockets and the head of the bolt on the silent shaft blew a hole in the timing cover. Guess who does their own repairs now...

So I turned the engine over with a breaker bar and it did not feel seized. I'm going to get a timing chain kit and put it on but have several questions. Firstly the bolt that holds the sprocket on the silent shaft is missing, is it a special bolt or can I get one at the hardware site? Secondly I need a new lower timing chain cover, do they still make them and if so where can I get one? Or do I need to look for one at a salvage yard?