I was driving the car and lost oil pressure. I pulled over added oil and now I have this awful knocking noise? Is this a rod? How do I check to see whats going on with the car?

mike

As simple as it sounds can you add a little more information? How much oil did you have to add to bring it back to the oil level marks? Also does loosening up the number one or two injector line quiet the engine? What I am thinking is you just might be able to change a rod bearing out on #1 or #2 cylinder without pullimg the engine if it comes to it. Thats if the crank is not damaged of course. I would not drive this car until the noise is located. Was there no indication of any oil pressure at all on the gauge when you noticed it? I believe these cars should have an aftermarket low oil pressure buzzer rigged because of the long rubber oil cooling lines especially. Two often in the last while an issue like this comes up it seems. Buzzers are cheap in comparison.

uh oh

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Jim

IF you shut it down in time, and IF it is a rod, you might be lucky enough as said before to get away with a set of bearings, running too long this way will damage crank and distort rod bores. As was said, start engine, do not touch accelerator, watch pressure gauge, if pressure is lower or noticeably slower rising than it used to be then thats an immediate sign and shut it down. If it comes up normally, do not hit accelerator, loosen the injector lines one at a time and see if it quiets noticeably (this reduces bearing loads and quiets a loose bearing). If it quiets then shut down. I would rule out bothering with checking injectors and such, as it happened at the time of said oil pressure loss, if the motor was at high speed when it happened then most likely we all know what happened. If either check results in a "failure" to pass, then I would recommend pulling the pan and inspecting bearings (including tolerance checks) for the sake of knowing for sure exactly what is going on. If any one bearing is bad, and you can't find any other damage to crank journal or rod,
then replace all bearings not just the one, because if one was compromised from loss of oil the others were also stressed.