I primed the oil pump and got good pressure so I put the plugs and fuel pump fuse back in. After a few seconds of cranking it started right up. It sounded good so I revved it up to 2500 rpm and held it there. It ran there for about 20 seconds then started smoking and died. I started it again but then it smoked and died. Any ideas?

 

What does the smoke smell like and what color is it?
Any check engine light on?

 

No check engine light. It might smell like coolant but I'm no smell expert. It's cool out this morning and evaporates fast. It's white.

 

Should the check engine light up as a dummy? It never does.

 

Yes, should come on at start up, then go out. Since it never comes on, you MUST connect a scanner to search for codes, should not assume that there won't be any. Some scanners show this as "MIL Status" on/off.

May also have to pull each plug and examine for color, fouling, etc. Coolant pressure test and compression test may be warranted before going back in....

I know that this is not what you wanted to hear. But before picking up a wrench, plug in the scanner. Recheck connections to crank sensor, cam position sensor, etc.

 

Yeah I had a feeling what it was when it first started smoking. Some damn gasket somewhere again. I just can't understand what I did wrong.

I'll see if the auto store will let me borrow a scanner instead of buying one. I'll go ahead and recheck the sensors too. Though I don't see how a sensor could make it smoke like that.

By the amount of smoke the only possibility that makes sense to me is blown HG again.

 

It is not the bad sensor, it is the possibility that you will be guided to one side of the engine or other. Got an ultra gauge?

Now for a thinking question. If you have machined heads, new bolts, new gaskets, good installation practices... might you have accidentally not torqued one or more bolts for one of the steps? If that possibility exists, can a digital torque wrench detect that bolt "X" can still be torqued the additional step? I reason that you should not release and re-torque a one time bolt. But could you add torque, making up the one you missed? If you can use a simple test or your Jedi powers to determine which one.

In other words, if you missed that last 90 degree turn on bolt "X", could you do it now? That's a question.

Now if you have to re-torque them all, I would guess a whole new set of bolts as a minimum.

 

Sounds like we spent our Thanksgiving holiday in a similar manner. Both Head Gaskets installed 'top' side up?

You must get this resolved before doing a lot of cranking or short-duration runs as it is critical for proper cam break-in. Good luck...I'm hoping it's nothing major.

 

Thanks Buzz. I used ARP head studs, which are reusable, and carefully torqued them all to 66lb-ft in 22-44-66-66(again) steps using their thread lube as directed. The recommended torque by ARP is 80 lb-ft but it's been suggested that's too high. My torque wrench is brand new too.

I thought both mating surfaces were very clean. Wiped both with carb cleaner before putting on new HG. Made sure HG "top" was indeed top. Maybe there was a bit of oil or something on the mating surfaces I missed.

 

The RAVE manuals says :


6.

Long bolts: 1, 3 and 5

Short bolts: 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10

bolts to:

Stage 1 - 20 Nm (15 lbf.ft)
Stage 2 - 90 degrees

Stage 3 - Further 90 degrees

So I'm not sure where the 80 pounds comes from. But, it does say gaskets dry, and perhaps some of the oil for the bolts made it out of the bore and under the gasket when being tightened. Would think that this would likely be bolts by the water passages at each of head (7&10, 9&8) But gasket supplier should be the authority having jurisdiction on this torque issue.

Which ARP bolt kit or size bolts did you purchase? see http://arp-bolts.com/pages/technical_torque_us.shtml