alright, i'm going to tell the story of my problem from the start and get your opinions of what it is thats going on.....


i recently just rebulit the engine in my trans am with all the goodies..... i had a stock chip in it to get it running and timed so everything would be ok when it came time for the new chip to go in......

well i got my new chip in and took it to the local exhaust shop to get my exhaust finished and to have my oil changed to get any gas thats was in the oil out........

well when he drained the oil it was thin like water, but it didn't look white and kinda smelt like gas, so i figured with the 30lb injectors that it ran real rich and thinned the oil real bad no biggie..... well we got to looking around and seen a drip or 2 of coolant on the starter, i looked up and seen a white green streak that looked like seepage leak from the head gasket, and that made me think of how the oil was thin like water... so when i got it home i checked the dipstick and it was clean and pretty.... so i figure id let it cool off and check it the next day so that the oil had time to drain back to the pan suffectinley... well i went out the next day and you can barely see tiny bubbles in the oil, and i was told it was probably condensation no biggie...... but i rememberd the white green seapege looking stuff at the head block mating area, but i then thought again that i had to pull the coolant lines and it could have got there when i done that as well as the oil when i pulled the cover off to adjust the valves one time.....

i just dont know where to go from here, if its not leaking and this is all coincidence then i'll be out about 150 for all the stuff i was going to get to replace the gaskets......... i just don't know of any other way to tell if this is a head gasket leak or just a big fubar and it's nothing...... besides pressure checking what can i do to figure this out?

the motor only has about 25 miles on it and stays right at 160 all the time unless i'm driving down the road and it goes a little lower... i haven't had to add any coolant and i know everything was right on the installation....... where would you suggest i go from here?? the oil is clean as hell, and it looks ok, but its new oil...

 

Are the heads torqued to spec?

 

Check the intake gasket over #8, that is a favorite place for coolant leaks on TPI intakes and will run down to the gap between the head and block, then drip onto the starter.

 

the bolts are toqued to factory 68fltlbs and i came to that torque in 3 steps.... i used rtv on all the bolts so i cannot se how they would cause a problem.. the intake is a holley stealth ram....... torqued to 30ftlbs in steps also and in sequince... this motor as assembled correctly, thats why i can't see how or why a head gasket would be or can be leaking.....