Figured out after 8 years I was torquing oil drain plugs wrong

Was doing a timing chain replacement on a 2014 F-150 last week and the shop foreman walked over. Watched me torque the drain plug on the new oil pan and just goes 'you know those are supposed to be wet torque specs right?' I had been doing it dry this whole time. Never even thought about it, just grabbed my torque wrench and went. No wonder I had two pans crack on me back in 2019. Anyone else learn basic stuff way later than they should have?

3 comments

3 Comments

robins832d ago

Wait, so are we supposed to be wiping the threads down with brake cleaner before or after applying the oil? I always thought you put a little oil on the threads and then torqued it dry, but now I'm second-guessing every oil change I've done since 2015. That wet vs dry thing might explain why my last drain plug felt weird going in.

betty_kelly92d ago

Always figured wet torque was just dealer nonsense until an old tech showed me the difference on a torque wrench test bench. Changed my mind real quick after that, makes total sense now.

tarabell2d ago

Man it's amazing how something so simple can mess you up for years... I did the same thing with transmission pan bolts, always torqued them dry and wondered why I kept getting slow leaks. Switched to wet torque after a buddy finally told me, and everything just started sealing up perfect. The oil companies should really put the wet torque numbers right on the bottle or something, cause its not like most of us have a chart memorized. Once you know it though it becomes second nature, just one of those little tricks that saves a ton of headache later.