I just installed arp install following the help on here. What are the signs of an improper install? Burnt oil? White smoke?This is just so that I can keep an eye on things.

Also when driven hard I saw some black smoke behind me. Does this mean I'm running too rich?

Thanks

 

Improperly installed ARP headstuds will exhibit similar symptoms to a blown headgasket.

Check your coolant levels after you've done some pulls. If you are losing coolant, then it's going out your exhaust. Burnt coolant sends white smoke out your tailpipe though.

Also make sure there's no oil in your coolant or water in your oil on your next oil change.

I'm assuming you did the "one at a time" install method. Did you use any of the ARP moly lube on the threads that went into the block?

 

Thanks. I did the one-by-one method and did not use the ARP moly lube on the stud threads that went into the block, only the washer and nut. Initally tq it to 75 and after two days retorque it to 85. Haven't seen any white smoke and redid a compresson test which turned out good.

Looks like the black smoke could be due to fuel or running rich.

I was just wondering what to look for in case something did go wrong.

Thanks again.

 

Do you have a cat? If not it sounds like unburnt fuel. Even if you are not running very rich, you will see this without a cat.

 

No cat. Have BR turboback with no cat. Not sure what the a/f is. I only have the narrowband a/f from the apexi TT which shows about 14.3-14.7 at idle and cruise but it sometimes go lean (16-18) and rich (12-13) then settles to 14s.

Thanks.

 

Yup, when I had my BR exhaust I always had black smoke and I know I was running rich. Their exhaust is a very straight thru design.

 

In my experience, even if you get them installed correctly the first time, you'll have to retighten them after about 1000 miles. I noticed a small oil leak that I thought was coming from the transfer case / tranny joint. Turned out I just needed to retighten the head studs. I've heard from others that this seems to be par for the course.

 

i remember turbo trix said you need to cycle torque them at least 5X

 

Is this a bad sign or a sign of head gasket leaking?? Anyone else seeing this after HS install? Thanks.

 

Best way to check is to do a compression test on all 4 cylinders. They should all be pretty close to each other. If one or two cylinders is really low, then you might have a leak.

 

Can't see anything in that picture. Can you describe what you are seeing?

 

I'm talking about the oil that is between the head and block. There's oil at the corner.

http://tinypic.com/a3no92.jpg

 

Any suggestions? Am I the only one experiencing this on the car?

 

i just installed mine last night. i'll let you know if i see anything unusual. I did the same method and torqued them to 75lb ft using the arp moly lube. Why didn't you use the moly lube? It comes with the studs?

The ARP instructions said to torque to 85lb ft if you were using motor oil as lubricant.

I didn't know about the retorquing bit...how long should I wait to retorque the studs?

 

I did use the arp moly lube but only on the nut and washer. I did not use it on the stud which was mention in here not to. I torque it to 75lb and then retorque to 85 lbs after 2 days. One thing that I notice was when installing the studs by hand some stud were sitting a bit higher so I had to use some force on the allen wrench to make it go lower. Not sure if anyone else did this.