Stop over-torquing your oil drain plug bolts

I saw three cars come in last month with stripped oil pans because guys kept cranking down on those plugs. The spec is usually 18-25 ft-lbs, not arm-strong tight. A torque wrench costs maybe 40 bucks and saves you from a 300 dollar pan replacement. How many stripped plugs have you guys seen this year?

2 comments

2 Comments

schmidt.amy4d agoMost Upvoted

Arm-strong tight" is the PERFECT description for half the diy guys I deal with. I swear they think if it's not gorilla-tight it's gonna fall out on the highway. I've seen three this year and two of those were on brand new cars. It's ALWAYS the aluminum pans too, like the cheap stamped steel ones can take more abuse but the nice ones just Crack. And people wonder why their pan starts weeping oil at the plug. I bet half the time they don't even wipe the old washer off or replace the crush washer either. A torque wrench is like twenty five bucks at harbor freight and it's literally the cheapest insurance you can buy for your engine. But no, they'd rather buy a new pan and spend a Saturday cussing under the car.

joseph44820h ago

Guilty as charged, I stripped one out last month doing exactly that.