Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Retorqued my head.

[QWaller]

Hello,

Thought I would pass this along. . Was expecting to have some loose head bolts due to age of vehicle. My 98 now has 95K on it. . Retorqued it last weekend and found all pretty tight. None moved until I hit 90# on the wrench and then it was primarily the bolts in the center row. I torqued them all to 100# and then the long's in sequence to 105#. I figure it ought to be better than where they were. I could not bring myself (no kahuna's) to do the 90 degree final turn on them. I am ok with shadetree work, but couldn't risk snapping a bolt. Oh well.

 

[WDixon27]

i wouldn't do a angle torque after they have been torqued down already, most angle torque fasteners have a certain range they need to be in to work effectively, a pull that big after that fact would likely not end well

 

[JFaughn]

I've done 100s?? of head gaskets over the yrs , something I haven't done , but thought of , was to check/retorq , but I also thought about a gasket gets old [ 100,000+ ] and yrs , that it could cause problems , with the gasket getting old/brittle , just putting that out there to see how many have had issues or not ?

 

[Dieseldemon]

If you retorque them they should be at 120# the comp gskt gives after a while I retorque after around 50000 and have always found then a little loose,after the torque + angle the torque is around 125 to 130 psi.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

aren't factory bolts TTY? did you re-lube the threads? re-lube between the shoulder and cylinder head?



retorquing factory bolts just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me

 

[Forrest Nearing]

I've done 100s?? of head gaskets over the yrs , something I haven't done , but thought of , was to check/retorq , but I also thought about a gasket gets old [ 100,000+ ] and yrs , that it could cause problems , with the gasket getting old/brittle , just putting that out there to see how many have had issues or not ?

you can't accurately "check" torque... the only thing you can do is scribe the fastener and check to see if it has backed off... if a fastener is overtorqued or overstretched, it's toast.



the only way to "check" to see if a fastener is torqued properly is to back it off and re-torque it with an accurate wrench or measure stretch. there is a moment of inertia that must be overcome before the fastener will move once it has stopped moving.



so, if you're torquing a fastener and you have to stop your pull on the wrench due to travel/interferance and you come back on the wrench and it instantly clicks, you are NOT at your desired torque value!!! back it off and get the wrench to click MID-PULL!