Today my engine began to knock really bad and had no power. Almost no acceleration, felt like I had about 30 hp. Car is 91 TA 305 tpi, 87k, auto, motor is stock.

About 2 weeks ago I had a really bad stumble when the car would warm up. There was also a ticking coming from the drivers side of the motor. I ended up putting a new cap, rotor, and coil in, before a new O2 sensor which solved the problem. After reseting the computer the car ran great, and the ticking seemed to go away. Since then the car has run good, until today on the highway when the stumble returned. The ticking also returned, wich a really loud knocking. All of the car's power went too, so I pulled off the road. The knocking gets louder when the rpm's increase. Oil pressure is low at idle, but has always been. But what's different is when you step on the gas a little the oil pressure will spike very quickly. It will go from about 15 to 45, in the past under normal driving it would stay around 40. The car didn't seem to be overheating. There has been a coolant spill on my intake manifold right around where the thermostat is. I have always used 93 octane since I bought it 3 years ago.

I managed to idle it to my mechanic which was ironically right near where I pulled off the highway. Could someone give me any ideas of what this might be. I'm fearing the worst right now.

Thanks for your help.

 

Hook it to a scanner and see what the engine is doing.

 

Ya, try the scanner first.
I had similar problems with my car 2 years ago - loss of power and low to no oil pressure. No power under acceleration, slight ticking noise and almost seemed like she overheated. It turned out the timing chain was busted and a valve was hammered.
Good luck

 

Well, got it checked out today, bad news. Rod knock.

 

I was going to go with "really low oil" - My 2.8 (my last Camaro) had a pair of hefty oil leaks, and if I forgot my "maintenance" after about a month I would get exactly what you described... first a ticking, then a really loud knocking, and the engine would feel like it had almost no power. When I would come to a stop, oil pressure would drop to almost 0.

Solution : slap my forehead for being an idiot, pull over, add a quart or two of oil, fire her up and drive off.