Newbie needs help.

[Philipf9]

Hello all. I am a newbie at repairs and can do them once I know but diagnosing, I have no clue. Here’s the problem. I have a 79 K10 with 350 in it. Drove for about 2 miles and it was fine. Got to go back home and while driving it began to act all funny. There’s a noise coming from the valve cover area, engine runs as if it’s missing and backfire (just off). It came out of the blue.
I also noticed that underneath it is coated with oil on underside of cab, engine and such. I am sure it needs gaskets elsewhere but I am unsure what would’ve broke. The noise in valves made me check the oil. Dipstick read full which I though was off because the engine was hot. To me, normally low oil won’t make it sound as if the timing is off. It’s as if either I got two separate issue that magically occurred at same exact time or one problem that caused both poor running and noise. I don’t know.

Please help!

 

[Big Chip]

Have you checked to make sure all of your plug wires are still on correctly? I had one pop off the spark plug end once.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Check what Kevin said first because that’s easier, but I’d pull the valve cover you think the noise is coming from and see how everything’s moving to make sure it’s not a loose rocker, stuck valve, etc. If you suspect a timing issue, it could be a problem with the timing set. You’d need to watch your timing mark with a light both at idle and while bumping the throttle, advance disconnected. Besides a cylinder losing compression, these are your worst case scenarios. More than likely it’s something quick and simple to resolve.