96 ford taurus

my wife's 96 taurus was running bad. doggin' uphill,sluggish,poor gas consumption. i changed the oil,filter &air filter. today i changed the plugs(they were BAD!). she told me the oil light was on and that it was doggin' up hills. she failed to tell me this when it 1st started. after changingthe plugs itook it for a test run and it started knocking(which she tells me it was doing that. the car shut off.upon restarting, it wouldn,t turn over. when it did start,the oil light stayedon. when ishifted to drive, it shuts down. the knocking is a little worse. in park the oil light stays on at at 1000rpms or less.it just doesn't feel like it wants to go. now iam not a mechanic! I NEED HELP! is it a bearing(i pray not) or could it possibly just be the oil pump? i am afraid to try to move it anywhere and would like to avoid the expense of a tow or a major internal engine repair/teardown. iwould appreciate any input whatsoever:eek:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but knocking, low oil pressure, and an engine that won't turn over sounds like spun bearing to me. If you stop now, there is a prayer that its usable as a core to exchange for a rebuilt one, otherwise its an anchor.

It could be something less dramatic, but sure sounds toast to me.

bye bye taurus. It was fun, in an unfun way.

How about a nice minivan next eh?

No happy news here, sorry. you've got yourself one blown up engine. Its not worth fixing IMO