Frustrated seeing guys skip torque specs on head gaskets

I was at a shop in Phoenix last Tuesday helping a buddy with a 7.3 Powerstroke and noticed the guy before me just cranked down the head bolts by feel. He didn't even use a torque wrench and now the gasket is seeping oil after 200 miles. This matters because if you skip the spec you risk warping the head and blowing $2,000 on a rebuild later. How do I know? I pulled the bolts out myself and three of them measured way over spec with my torque wrench. Has anyone else seen shops get lazy with this on the common rail engines?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_anna1mo ago

Man that Phoenix heat probably made it worse too. I was out there last summer visiting my cousin and we tried to do a head gasket on his 6.0 in his driveway at noon. It was like 110 degrees and we got so distracted by the heat we forgot to torque the intake manifold bolts right. Ended up with a vacuum leak that sounded like a duck whistle for three weeks. Nothing worse than realizing you gotta pull it all apart again because you were rushing to get out of the sun. Your buddy's lucky he caught it early before the bolts pulled the threads out of the block.

dylan_patel1mo ago

@the_anna sounds like you two need a heat-proof torque wrench and a cold beer.