Hey all,

I just recently picked up a truck as a winter beater for the snow season coming up. Problem: I'm hearing a knock coming from the motor, and I'm not sure if it's a rod or..

Here's some background. The vehicle I purchased is a 1996 Chevy K2500 w/ Vortec 350. It has been sitting for about 3 months.

I drove it about 50 miles without issue, when it suddently died on me. At first, I thought it was a fuel pump issue (acceleration disappeared, then the truck shut off). I waited a bit and cranked it over a few times. It cranked, but wouldn't start. After about 20 minutes, it finally started. After about 5 miles of driving, I started to hear a knock, along with the oil pressure gauge acting funny (going to zero, then back up).

I shut it down and haven't started it since.

Here is what I noticed when I inspected it further: coolant dripped onto my arm when I was under it. Traced it back to a radiator cap that was not secured all the way. The truck did not overheat, but it did spew out a bit of coolant. The knocking appeared to be coming from the engine, but I couldn't tell if it was old/bad fuel, or what. The "check gages" light illuminated. Also, the "service engine soon" light came on.

I'm not sure if any of this is related, or if all of it is. This happened a few hours ago, and I'm going to have a pro look at it tomorrow. But I'd like to hear from the resident experts first so I can have an idea of what to expect.

Thanks in advance!

 

A lot of times you will hear knocking sounds at start-up on vortec engines because they transmit noise so well, but if that's not the case, I'd say that you could have a oil pump going out or a blown head gasket.

The check gauges light probably came on because the oil pressure dropped out.