Without wishing to start any 'hares running', since our new poster states #1 and #3 'failing', has the 727 ever experienced engine problems due to wing root ice shedding similar to other tail-engined a/c?
With the zillions of hours that the aircraft type has, just about everything possible has happened. However; the specifics must be examined via observation and DFDR. So it's a waste of band width to discuss this further unless some other evidence specific to this event turns up.