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A guy at the parts counter told me he never uses a torque wrench on drain plugs, and now I'm second guessing myself
I was picking up a filter at the NAPA on Grand Ave on Tuesday and the guy behind the counter (older fella, been there forever) mentioned he just snugged drain plugs by feel for 30 years and never had one come back. I've been torquing every single one to spec since I started, which eats up time on oil changes, and now I'm wondering if I'm just being slow. Part of me thinks he's right for the 90 percent of plugs that are normal, but the other part remembers a stripped pan on a Subaru I had to heli-coil 2 years ago. Do you all torque every plug or only the ones that feel sketchy, and has hand tightening ever come back to bite you?
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joelharris1mo ago
Torque wrench on aluminum pans every time, no question. Steel pan on an old truck? Hand tight is fine. The guy at NAPA has probably never had to explain a heli-coil bill to a customer. Subaru pans especially are made of butter, one ugga dugga too many and you're pulling the pan. Feel works until it doesn't.
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