I've got a 1990 Chevy with a 350 in it. I live in Anchorage, AK so its cold. When I bought it it had a little bit of a lifter tick, but it was barely noticable. It's the first truck I've had with a plow on it and I was driving on the highway with the plow up when it overheated. The plow doesnt let air flow through the radiator. I pulled over and let it cool down. Then I drove it about 15 miles home. I couldn't go over 45 without it sounding really terible. The motor was knocking real loud. I parked it for two days, then drove it to bowling. It sounded terrible but drove fine. The next morning I tried to drive it to class and it broke down after about a mile. I turned a corner and the knocking got real loud and the truck died. A buddy towed me home and I pulled my valve covers off and everything looked just fine under there. When I turn the key there is a loud click. there is plenty of juice. Its a hard metallic click like something is jammed up. it's not the starter syliniod click it's internal. need to fix it or get rid of it soon so I would appreciate any helpful advice or suggestions from anyone.
Thankyou
Evan

You can try and turn the engine over by hand with a breaker bar and a 5/8" socket but if the engine is locked up then chances are you have a major shortblock problem. Is there coolant in the oil?

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No coolant in the oil....any more help would be greatly needed and appreciated!
thanks
Evan

Your alternator prolly went out....and the ruff running was from a weak battery.

Go get it tested and checked out or swapo batteries. If yours got hosed like this, don't even bother trying to salvage it since it prolly lost a cell in it and it'll NEVER be the same.

EXTREME weather (both hot and cold) kill batteries QUICK!

My bet,,, this is going to be a lesson on why you NEVER drive a vehicle when the engine is knocking. Not even 10feet!!! Bet you find a rod or two entangeled in the rotating assembly. Driving a knocking motor till it stops typically takes a rebuildable motor, and turns it into scrap iron. Really hope I'm wrong, but I bet you should start looking for a crate motor to replace it.

Well right now I'm in college and I really don't have the money to take it to a shop to have it looked at. I also have no place to work on it thats acceptable for breaking donw the engine. is there and way to check the rotator assembly other than the breaker bar? right now it's parked out in the snow in the parking lot and its hard to stay out there doing anything for long, so is there any quick tests I can do to find the problem?
thanx for the help so far
Evan

Nope, no quick tests. It doesn't turn over, so unless you have a friend with good x-ray vision you are going to have to get your hands on it. Use the breaker bar and see if you can turn the engine. If not, try turning it backwards and see how far you can turn it. It will probably turn a little. Then try forward again. If it stops each time then most likely it is a broken rod. If you can't turn it at all it may be siezed.
By the way, angling the plow all the way to one side helps pull some air in toward the radiator.

What kind of oil pressure did it have when it was knocking!
Have you tried turning the motor by hand yet?