Had a conversation with an old Cat mechanic who swore retorquing heads was a waste of time on modern engines

He told me he hasn't retorqued a head gasket in 15 years and has only had one failure, but every manual I've ever read says you have to do it, so which camp are you guys in and have you ever gotten burned skipping that step?

3 comments

3 Comments

joel_clark377d ago

I remember being that guy who read the manual cover to cover and thought I'd blow an engine if I skipped a retorque. My first head gasket job I spent a whole afternoon torquing, then retorquing, then double checking the torque specs because I was so paranoid. Thirty minutes later I dropped a socket on the floor and had to start all over again because I thought I heard a slight creak. Old timer was probably right, now I just torque it once and call it good, though I still get nervous every time I hit the starter button afterwards.

avery_jackson7d agoTop Commenter

My 350 chevy in my 76 pickup had a head bolt strip out on me. I torqued em once and sent it. That was 40,000 miles ago and it still runs fine. People overthink this stuff way too much.

william_garcia10h ago

That "torqued em once and sent it" line got me thinking about my old flathead Ford. Had a spark plug hole strip out, packed it with some JB Weld and a helicoil, went 50k more miles before the truck rusted out. Sometimes the bubba fixes work out better than the manual says.