Now I start using Torque Wrench for oil changes

[Rock_Hudstone]

Originally Posted by old1
I have been changing oil on my own and customers cars for 60 years now, and have yet to use a torque wrench on a drain plug. Or a lug nut for that matter. Never a problem. Maybe us old guys just have a better built in torque wrench LOL.

I always use a torque wrench on lug nuts and other critical items. Last thing I need is a wheel coming off at 80mph on a busy highway.

Firestone is the other extreme, when I get my tires rotated the techs blast the lug nuts so tight I sometimes have trouble getting them loose with an impact wrench at full power.

 

[eljefino]

My camry kept loosening when I used new fiber crush washers. Yeah I got the ebay knockoffs, LOL. But I'd crawl back under after 1000 miles and get another decent wrench turn on there.

 

[gman2304]

Originally Posted by Malo83
Originally Posted by old1
I have been changing oil on my own and customers cars for 60 years now, and have yet to use a torque wrench on a drain plug. Or a lug nut for that matter. Never a problem. Maybe us old guys just have a better built in torque wrench LOL.

Amen to that!

Same here, but I've only been doing oil changes for 50 years.

 

[Hounds]

Aluminum oil pan, steel drain plug, torque wrench.

 

[The Critic]

This all works great until your torque wrench fails - and then you destroy a pan or a plug. Been there, done that. So, make sure you still have an idea as to what 26 ft-lbs should feel like.

 

[Kestas]

I never had good luck using torque wrenches at the lower torque ranges.

 

[double vanos]

All my stuff has aluminum pans so I torque to 15. Been using a torque wrench on oil changes since I was a kid.

 

[CR94]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson
... It's funny how soooooo many suggest using a torque wrench for everything else but laugh at people who use them for drain plugs or "my arm is my torque wrench".
The reason to laugh is that torque on a drain plug normally isn't critical, as long as you have enough common sense to avoid either ridiculous extreme. Just get it tight enough not to leak or work loose, but not so tight you strip it.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted by Kestas
I never had good luck using torque wrenches at the lower torque ranges.


Use a smaller range torque wrench. Seriously that's the answer.

 

[mobilaltima]

Nissan usually gives a range for their drain plugs from 22-29 ft lbs. I always torque them to 25 with a new oem crush washer, never had a leak

 

[doitmyself]

Us weekend warriors need every excuse we can muster to use our polished tool collections. "Look dear, I'm using that $150 dollar wrench you gave me permission to buy!".

I guess my laughable comment about these torque wrench threads are when "experienced" people post "tighten it until snug, then give it another 1/4 turn" or anything similar to this. I fear for newbies because following this advice with non gasketed spark plugs could result in stripped threads. And, what is snug for a 90 lb. fellow might be completely different than that of a 300 lb. gorilla.

I learned this about using a torque wrench on a gasketed item such as a tranny pan or valve gasket: Using my workplace Snap On techangle torque wrench, I torqued a gasket up to 9 ft. lbs.. Upon going over the bolts again (and again....) with 9 ft. lb. setting, the gasket would continue to crush to get back up to 9 ft. lbs. until it deformed and was ruined. Lesson learned.

 

[DGXR]

From age 18 until about 40, I never torqued my engine oil drain plugs and only had a few drips in all those years. Now I do torque them, just because it's right and it makes me feel good. I still don't torque the differential plugs, not sure why... maybe I just haven't bothered to look up the spec.

 

[thooks]

Originally Posted by Trav
Originally Posted by Kestas
I never had good luck using torque wrenches at the lower torque ranges.


Use a smaller range torque wrench. Seriously that's the answer.



+1

If I used a torque wrench to tighten oil plugs, I'd use my 3/8" with a short socket.

 

[NissanMaxima]

Originally Posted by mobilaltima
Nissan usually gives a range for their drain plugs from 22-29 ft lbs. I always torque them to 25 with a new oem crush washer, never had a leak


+1 to new OEM nissan copper crush washers EVERY oil change. I like how they crush and really provide some "feedback" on when you need to stop tightening. When I first got my 95 Maxima new, I used one of those Craftsman deflecting beam torque wrenches on my steel pan which I found almost impossible to use and quickly gave up on it and never used one since - no problems. I was just thinking the other day about what I should do with that thing!

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by CR94
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
... It's funny how soooooo many suggest using a torque wrench for everything else but laugh at people who use them for drain plugs or "my arm is my torque wrench".
The reason to laugh is that torque on a drain plug normally isn't critical, as long as you have enough common sense to avoid either ridiculous extreme. Just get it tight enough not to leak or work loose, but not so tight you strip it.


That's the key right there. The safe range. It is quite wide for many applications. I torqued the bolts on the oil pan I replaced recently by hand but not easy to get all 14 bolts torqued evenly by hand to 81 inch pounds.

Modern golf drivers come with a torque wrench. They're set a bit tighter than I'd torque it by hand.