i would try a new one and see what happens but i dont get your hopes up.

probbaly a broken piston. if you have a way to look in that hole like one of those little cameras then you would know for sure or you could pull off a head and just look at it but that is a lot of work.

try the plug and report back.

 

Well I re-gapping the plug and pulled another wire to get the measurement and shredded the plug wire ARRRRRGGGGG!!! So I swapped the good wire from the bad plug to the good plug so I'm still down a cylinder. Can I drive it like this to the auto store (3 miles)? Should I pull the wire off the coil pack or leave it on?

 

Sounds to me like a damaged piston....I dont think a spark plug is going to fix that......

 

Fixed the plug, re worked the plug wire and put it together. It runs, actually smoother because now I'm getting spark (I hope) to #7. The ticking/knocking is still there. Can I drive it like this? I know I cant get on it or anything but just to get around until I can get it fixed? What kind of piston damage would it be? Broke ring, broke rod ?

 

I just heard it and I yelled out HOLY ****!!
I personally would not drive it, or even start it. If the piston is broken, it could get a lot worse with each turn of the crank. If you have another vehicle I would start to begin to tear the motor down. No matter what the problem really is, You will most likely have to tear it down anyways.
I hope its not a big deal, and is somewhat an easy fix.

 

there have been people around here that beat on their trucks for months after hurting them. you are risking totaling out the motor but these 5.3's aren't worth much anyways.the block worth about nothing. the heads might be worth a few bucks.

you would be risking the heads and a tow home. it is up to you.

 

My ford straight six sounded like that with an elongated hole for the wrist pin. Cant help but cringe when I heard that. If your not burning oil i wont think you tore up a piston too bad though.

 

I'm gonna go run around the block and see what she does. I think it still has compression. I drove home last night at 70 mph for about 45 minutes and it ran fine other than the miss down low. But after I fixed the plug it smoothed out. What would have to let go to allow the piston to travel far enough to hit the plug?

 

my vote's on piston land failure

 

Runs pretty smooth. Knocks until about 40mph and then is goes completely away???? Maybe that will help you guess what is wrong. I didnt get on it at all, kept it below 1500 the whole time. But after 40 it sounds normal--no knock. Maybe some centrifugal force is holding thing together at higher speeds? About to go into town, we'll see....report back tonight.