Tried a new torque wrench on a head gasket job and the difference was huge

I was doing a head gasket on a 6.7 Powerstroke last week and decided to compare my old clicker wrench to a new digital one I borrowed. The old wrench felt fine, but the digital readout showed I was off by almost 15 foot-pounds on a few bolts during the initial pass. I went back and re-torqued everything with the digital tool, following the exact three-step sequence. The engine fired up clean with no leaks, which wasn't always the case for me on these jobs. Has anyone else made a switch like that and noticed a real improvement in consistency?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew91614d ago

Man, I've been trusting my old clicker like it was gospel. Might need to borrow a digital one before I accidentally launch a valve cover into orbit lol.

elizabeth_gonzalez14d ago

Honestly those old clicker torque wrenches are pretty solid if you take care of them. People built entire engines with them for decades. Just check the calibration once in a while or when you drop it. Unless you're doing aerospace stuff, you probably won't actually send anything flying.