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A guy at the Freightliner dealer told me I was over-torquing my valve cover bolts
He said 'you're crushing the gasket, just snug them.' I started using a torque wrench set to 18 ft-lbs like he said and my leaks stopped. Anyone else get a simple tip that fixed a dumb problem?
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sarahsullivan4d ago
That part about using the ratchet like a gorilla hits home. I did the same thing with the oil pan on my old Jeep. I kept finding drips and just reefed on the bolts more. Stripped two of them clean out. Had to drill and helicoil. A ten minute job turned into a weekend project. Now I check the manual for everything, even if the number seems stupid low.
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jesse_barnes371mo ago
My old Ford's valve covers leaked for two years. I was convinced I needed fancy gaskets, so I kept buying them and cranking the bolts down harder each time. Turns out I was just using a cheap 3/8" drive ratchet like a gorilla. The spec was only 8 foot pounds, which feels like nothing. I felt pretty dumb when I finally looked it up.
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val_henderson1mo ago
Ever wonder if torque specs are low on purpose to stop us from breaking old, brittle parts? That 8 ft-lbs feels wrong because we're used to forcing things, but maybe it's the only thing keeping those old bolt threads intact.
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