First start jitters

[ben1272]

I keep coming up with excuses for why I should postpone starting her up. I worry about having to drain fluids again if problems arise, I worry about my tank having gas/gas fumes in it for ever more (i.e. new fire/explosion hazard), I worry about the various messes that may be created by leaking fluids (wrecking paint, etc). I am doing a good job worrying too much!!!

For those who have gone before, how many of you found that you had to drain coolant again, oil, etc, after first starting? Am I worrying about nothing or do I have legit concerns that I shouldn't dismiss?

-Ben

[Zodiac]

I know I worried also since it was my first build. Double and triple check you have everything connected and you should be good. There's a couple posts on here that have checklists that I remember seeing so I'd use those and start it up. You're either gonna find something wrong now or later lol. Good luck

[lclevert]

I had all the same concerns and finally just went ahead and did it. You will more than likely find something leaking that needs to be tightened up.

Once you get that first start out of the way, you will feel much better about proceeding with whatever's next. If there is a problem that you find, better to find it sooner and get it taken care of.

[lclevert]

Oh, and to answer your other question. Unfortunately, I made a couple of messes that I had to clean up. The first was that I didn't tighten one of the coolant hoses near the radiator. Once the temp went up and some pressure built up in the cooling system, it blew the hose off and spilled coolant all over the garage floor. I had to go through another fill/bleed procedure.

I also had an oil leak at the oil filter sandwich plate area. There is not much room in this area to be able to see what of many things could be leaking: the sandwich plate to block seal, the oil filter to sandwich seal, or one of the AN lines at the sandwich plate. I had to take the whole thing apart, including hoses at the external oil cooler to troubleshoot which made an oily mess. I had to do this a couple of times before determining the leak was at the filter itself. Replaced the filter and no more leak.

Its a little frustrating having to re-do work, but its not the first time on this car and certainly won't be the last.

Good luck with your start.

Skip

[idf]

I keep coming up with excuses for why I should postpone starting her up. I worry about having to drain fluids again if problems arise, I worry about my tank having gas/gas fumes in it for ever more (i.e. new fire/explosion hazard), I worry about the various messes that may be created by leaking fluids (wrecking paint, etc). I am doing a good job worrying too much!!!

For those who have gone before, how many of you found that you had to drain coolant again, oil, etc, after first starting? Am I worrying about nothing or do I have legit concerns that I shouldn't dismiss?

-Ben

I will be happy to make the trip from Hingham to Andover to provide support if that would help. Our first start was about the most exciting thing my sons and I have done in years despite the pool of coolant on the floor.

[ben1272]

That is a very nice offer! I may just take you up on it.

[tmoretta]

At my first start (about 1 1/2 years ago) I had a fuel leak at an injector o ring. Later, the driver's side corrugated coolant hose disconnected itself.

[ben1272]

Well, I am going to double check every coolant junction and every fuel line clamp. Hopefully this will avoid a major spill/leak. Mostly I hope that if a joint is leaking that it can be remedies by tightening and doesnt need to be disconnected/drained/etc. Oh well, I guess the time for me to bite the bullet is coming. I think my problem is called analysis paralysis....

[alpine227]

I had a bad 6an fitting leak fuel, and forgot to torque the flywheel bolts(that made an awful noise). If your nervous have a second person to stand by looking for leaks, they might see fuel leaks on priming pulse. If you forgot something that requires engine removal, weather you start it or not you need to remove the engine to fix it, so do checklist and fire it up. Have a fire extinguisher, speedy dry rand hose clamp tools standing by.

[DMC7492]

Pressure testing the different systems before filling and running will ensure a leak free installation.
Test the cooling system with a cooling system pressure tester.
Prime the oil pump to test for oil leaks.
When cranking the engine over to prime the oil pump I found the turbo oil feed banjo loose tha makes a mess! If the engine started I could have lost a lot of oil!
Fuel test by turning the key on the pressure will build turn it off and on a few times then start looking for leaks.
This will build your confidence an hopefully avoid any sunrises!
Basically you want a boring noneventfull start. And all the emotions will be YEAH BABY!!!

[Crawleyscobra]

I made my first start an event. Had about a dozen friends and family over. I read the advice from several members’ posts and first thing I did was to not do my first start in my garage, didn’t want to burn my house down just in case I had a fire that got out of control. I had a couple of fire extinguishers on hand to be safe. As for leaks I placed a bunch of paper down under the car to catch whatever leaked. I had five guys watching a specific area of the car as I ran around checking things too. As it turned out I had a power steering leak (surprise, surprise), but other than that all went well. After I got her back in the garage we had a cookout. It was a good day.

Here is a link to my first start page with a couple of videos.

http://crawleyscobra.com/index_files/Page7876.htm

[ben1272]

Nice idea to have friends over to help.....or maybe laugh at you when things go sideways!!

I am going to check all fittings/clamps/etc and put a colored dot of nailpolish on each one, kind of like indicating bolts/nuts that have been torqued (which I plan to do also).

I got my new optima battery today....always wanted one. My tires should be in this weekend (hopefully). Bought oil and coolant and brake fluid, so systems filling is near. Should have busy weekend if my son's CJ-7 restoration project doesnt pull me away too much!

I will post good/bad/ugly. Stay tuned, and thanks for all the good advice! I'm taking it all in and incorporating what I can.

-Ben