Reconditioned engines would be fitted at base overhaul, and it would be rare for a vehicle not to have been through at least one of these, check the data plate. You have to also remember it's often quicker to swap an engine than try and fix it in situ.
An engine swap on a CVRT is only going to take one or two hours, so they wouldn't mess about with trying to fix an issue when they can do a quick change and let someone else deal with it!
The paperwork for my sturgeon shows it had a new engine when the temperature sender went wrong. I have paperwork for a J60 which did 125 miles from rebuild before being removed for a head gasket issue. Any CVRT, Fox or similar may have had 20 or more engines over its life.
Chris