hello i have a olds 98 with a non */C 3800 L26, i have a light engine tap/knock that sounds like it'* dead center of the engine. when the knock first happend the oil level light flickerd but would not stay on or off. the car cut off on me as well. it restarted instantly but felt weak. the taping i think is due to my transmission only having a first gear (just happend recently) and i was over working the engine. i thought it mite have been the harmonic balencer but the car wouldn't cut off due to a balancer would it? or at least control oil flow? i checked the oil level it looks fine clean and full. please someone help me.

Hey 92-88 sounds like you could have spun a rod bearing especially if you were driving the car in first gear at high rpms. If you lost oil pressure chances are you starved a bearing causing the problem. When the motor gets higher milage the main bearings lose their tightness and starve the rod bearings for oil. One way to check is to pull the oil pan and check for excessive up and down play in the rods where they connect to the crankshaft also with the car running you can pull one spark plug at a time to see if the knock quiets down this can tell you which cylinder is knocking, if you pull the wires be careful there is alot of voltage try to use a pliers with rubber grips and a thick glove so you dont get zapped. Good Luck.

Okay i will try to do this tommarow or tonite. but if this is the problem then how much am i looking at coughing up out of pocket?

If you do have a spun bearing you will need to rebuild the engine, which will cost well over a thousand bucks. You can probably find a decent used engine anywhere from 400.00 to 800.00 depending on the mileage.