Torque specs on aluminum oil pans, why is everyone guessing?

Last Tuesday I had a 2018 F-150 come in with a slow oil leak from the drain plug area. Turns out the previous shop just snugged the plug back in with an impact gun and stripped the threads in the aluminum pan. Customer said the other place told him it was fine to hand tighten it. That pan costs $180 plus labor.\n\nI see this all the time. Guys refuse to look up factory torque specs, especially on plastic or aluminum pans where the difference between 18 ft-lbs and 30 ft-lbs is a cracked housing. I keep a torque wrench on every oil change now, even if it takes an extra minute.\n\nWhy do people act like torque specs are optional on these newer pans? Anyone else deal with stripped pans because someone just sent it by feel?

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noranguyen3d ago

I used to be the guy who did everything by feel for 15 years, and honestly I got lucky more times than I want to admit. Then about 3 years ago I watched a coworker crack a plastic valve cover on a Nissan because he went "just a little past snug" and it was a $400 part plus a tow. That one stuck with me. These new aluminum and plastic pans are nothing like the old cast iron stuff where you could wrench on it and it would forgive you. The threads pull way easier and once they strip you are pulling the pan or tapping it, which nobody wants on a Tuesday afternoon. Now I keep the torque wrench right on the cart and just look up the number, it takes 30 seconds and saves me the headache.

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