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Shop owner in Tulsa told me to stop using a torque wrench on drain plugs, half the guys here agree with him
I was doing an oil change on a 2019 Peterbilt 579 at a shop outside Tulsa back in April and the owner walked by and told me I was wasting time torquing drain plugs and filters to spec. He said he has run his place for 22 years and never had a plug back out, just snug it up by feel and get the truck out the door. I get it, flat rate pays 0.4 for a lube job and a torque wrench eats two minutes you ain't getting paid for. But I have also pulled a drain plug someone "snugged" that was finger tight and weeping oil all over a customer's driveway, and that is a comeback you eat for free. So which is it, do you torque every plug to the book or do you go by feel and trust your wrist? Curious what the old hands do on high mileage stuff where the pan threads are already half gone.
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lisa97619d ago
My wrist couldn't torque a lug nut lol, I use the wrench.
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the_beth19d ago
Why not just torque the ones that matter and snug the rest? Dude's got a point that flat rate don't pay for it, but a comeback on a weeping plug costs you way more than two minutes. I feel for you man, it's a lose lose either way.
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