My intake only looked greasy also... that is until I pulled the pan off and saw teh pool of oil that had been hiding in the corner.

 

the plenum gasket is my next plan of attack... i have to go back to work tomorrow so i doubt i will be able to get to it in the next couple of days.. i'll just let the truck sit for the time being.. thank you all very much again for the help and advice im extremely great full for it. i'll put up another post once ive reached the final outcome and my beast is fixed

 

pull your valve covers and inspect the springs. its really easy to take them off.
all you have to do is:
remove the air cleaner
get some 5/50 cord (or twine/rope) and tie the heater hoses back
pop the spark plug wire clips off the studs
take the vacuum lines for the pcv valve, brake booster and crank case vent off
take all the bolts out (7/16" i believe), then lift them off.

there is a good chance that you have about 5 bolts loose on each cover anyway, so this would be a good time to get a new set of fel pro gaskets on there. the torque is 95 in-lbs when you install them. and don't forget about the ground wires on the passenger valve cover.

 

A clogged CAT will cause that to occur and here's why. The heat has no place to go and, it backs up into the cylinder thus melting the plugs. That's a sure tell-tail sign of a really spent CAT.

That noise you hear under load is most likely detonation. Due to the excessive heat, the fuel mixture is igniting when the piston is on it's way up or before it reaches it's full stroke. Sounds like a spent CAT however, you could be right with thinking it's a broken / damaged valve but, if that were the case you would know it as it would pop through through the exhaust and it would run like junk throughout the entire rpm range.

 

i just pulled a code up sayin large evaporating emissions leak.. any ideas?