Engine cranks but dies

[Krisemann]

Hello, I've replaced my head gasket and other gaskets, but after reassembling the engine it simply won't start. It cranks, but all of a sudden there's a high pitched metal scraping noise from what sounds like the cams, and the engine dies - however it's possible to crank it again after that, with the same result once again. Timing is on the marks, so it's not the valves. What I am worried about though is if my cam cover is overtorqued, I suspect some of the bolts might be torqued down to about 20 ft lbs. We soaked both cams in WD40 before installing them. Is it possible to undo every cam cover bolt and reinstall them, or do I have to remove the cam cover itself?

[abscate]

If it sounds like the worlds largest mouse scratching a hole in metal, the cam sensor reluctor (metal piece) isn't in right and its scraping it up. A very good friend of mine did this to her T5 once.

Take the cam sensor out and inspect.

no damage done.

Cam bolt torque isn't the problem, although 20 ft lb is too much, It won't cause cam problems.

After you run it for a bit change the oil to get the WD40 out of there.

[Krisemann]

Yeah it seems to happen once every full turn for the camshafts. I loosened every cam cover bolt again just to test. The cams sat too hard, the timing belt skipped when I tried to pull it one turn and apparently it's done that 3 times already when trying to crank the engine as it was 4 teeth off. When trying to turn the cams after that, the intake cam hit something solid, so I figured I was lucky it didn't bend any valves or similar.

With the timing belt off and the cam cover looser than it was, it was butter smooth to turn the cams around. I'm an idiot though so I managed to get the timing two teeth wrong in some mysterious way when releasing the tensioner, so I'll have to take it out and redo that tomorrow, as well as torque every bolt down to proper value (12ftlbs, right?) - next time I do something like this I'll get anaerobic sealant instead of regular

If I remember correctly the cam sensor reluctor has two notches so it should only go in two ways? Is it possible to install it upside down? Also the noise seems to come from the intake cam, the exhaust cam is fine, however I guess it does sound exactly like you described it.

[FLXC90]

Yes the notches are offset so it only goes on one way, but it can be, and there have been numerous reports of it having been, installed incorrectly. Take it off and look at it closely. Determine which way it was intended to go, if it is really messed up, replace it. And with all this practice, you should have the tensioner and belt dance down to an art this time!

[Krisemann]

I'm pretty sure I got it right on the first try, then tried it upside down just to check and it didn't sit properly, so I put it back to normal again. It seemed to sit properly when I installed it, but I'll look at it tomorrow. I still suspect my cam cover did it though as it made a similar noise when I tried to turn the intake cam around manually the first 3-4 times, then the sound just disappeared.

[abscate]

You have to use anaerobic sealer on the cam cover

Any other sealer will harden and block the oil
Passages feeding the head and cam bearings.

You can use the Loctite or permeatex brand , they probably make it for Volvo. $10

I’ll have some left over by October

A light coating is all that’s needed.

[Krisemann]

I made sure that none of it got into the oil passages. Applied a very thin layer of it, too, spread it out evenly with a sponge paint roller, so I doubt it's a problem. Haven't heard any noises from anything else. I really don't want to completely undo the cam cover either, as it was a pain to clean it off.

Not sure if those brands are marketed here in Norway but I'll check

[Krisemann]

Turned out the tensioner was bad, figured that out when I was trying to install the bushing... The reluctor was fitted correctly though. I'll have to get a new tensioner before I can do anything else