Hot take: most guys are over-torquing their oil drain plugs

I see a lot of stripped pans come into my shop in Tacoma, and nine times out of ten it's from someone cranking the plug down to 40 foot-pounds when the spec is usually around 18. I keep a little chart with common specs taped to my toolbox. Anyone else have a good trick for keeping torque specs straight on the fly?

3 comments

3 Comments

charles5081mo ago

Oh man, your chart trick is genius and I say that as someone who literally wrote the specs on my arm in sharpie once and then accidentally washed it off before finishing the job. I mean, idk, maybe it's just me but I feel like half the stripped pans I see are from people who think "German torque" means "gutentight" instead of actually checking the number. I tried the "feel it out" method one time on my old Civic and ended up having to drill out the plug because I went full gorilla mode on it. Your tape-on-the-box method sounds way smarter than my arm tattoo approach, honestly.

adams.barbara3mo ago

Your chart idea is SMART, I just keep a cheap torque wrench in my oil change kit. It forces you to do it right every single time. Saves so many headaches down the road.

the_derek3mo ago

Honestly that chart seems like extra work for no real gain. Tbh a torque wrench on an oil drain plug is overkill if you just know how to feel it. Ngl, you can get it plenty tight with a regular ratchet and not strip anything. Seen too many people crank those cheap click wrenches way past the click anyway. Just my two cents.