Engine Question

[JHill9]

Hopefully someone can answer this question for me. My engine seems to have a small oil leak coming from around the valve covers. Spoke with my local viper tech and he recommended changing the valve cover gaskets.

Long story short, I spoke with Chuck Tator because I was ordering some other parts and he said that he tightens the screws every year. And that I should try that before replacing the gaskets.

Which leads us to tonight. The service manual says tighten them to 95 pounds. As I was tightening them I started to get an uneasy feeling that I was going to strip them out. So my question is, can I strip them or am I just imagining things?

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Well, of course you can strip them, since the heads are aluminum. But I would trust the FSM for that torque spec.

 

[EllowViper]

Inch pounds..not foot pounds...but I just go by feel at this point in my wrenching career...

 

[JHill9]

Inch pounds..not foot pounds...but I just go by feel at this point in my wrenching career...

Good thing I asked before tighten them very much. Off to the auto parts store tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[97snk]

Good thing I asked before tighten them very much. Off to the auto parts store tomorrow. Thanks.

make sure your torque wrench works, I stripped my power steering pump bolts because my wrench was off on calibration...You can pick a good torque wrench from harbor freight of all places for about 20 bucks, I did a lot of research on them the last few days and the harbor freight one seems to be more accurate than snap on ones, you just have to treat them with care...

 

[BOTTLEFED]

The service manual says tighten them to 95 pounds.

haha, I skipped right over the fact that you just said pounds. I guess I mentally added the "inch" in there.

 

[JHill9]

As you might be able to tell I am not used to working on cars. So this is a fun learning experince.

The problem is none of the auto part stores around here sell torque wrenchs in inch/pounds so it never crossed my mind that it would be anything other than ft/pounds. At least I can go to Grainger and pick one up tomorrow.

 

[viper067]

Sears should also have torque wrenches that measure inch pounds

 

[JHill9]

make sure your torque wrench works, I stripped my power steering pump bolts because my wrench was off on calibration...You can pick a good torque wrench from harbor freight of all places for about 20 bucks, I did a lot of research on them the last few days and the harbor freight one seems to be more accurate than snap on ones, you just have to treat them with care...

I am curious about when you stripped out your bolts. How do you fix something like that?

I have a harbor freight around here but the tools I have bought from there have been really cheap. Surprised you like theirs. This is the one I am thinking about getting. Good enough? But 20 dollars sure sounds better.

Torque Wrench, 1/4in Dr - Micrometer Torque Wrenches - Wrenches - Hand Tools : Grainger Industrial Supply

 

[KenH]

You can just divide inch pounds by 12 to get foot pounds if you have a ft/lb torque wrench that will go that low (8 ft/lb).

You could also just go around and snug them all down by hand using a screwdriver handle with a Torx bit. You won't overtighten them that way.