Heard a guy at the parts counter say he never uses a torque wrench on spark plugs

I was picking up a set of plugs for a Ford F-150 and the guy ahead of me told the clerk he just goes by feel. The clerk didn't correct him, just rang him up. Is that a common practice, or is it asking for trouble with aluminum heads?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugo6451mo ago

See it all the time, people trusting their gut over the manual until something breaks. Why do we think experience beats the numbers on the page?

aaron_flores8425d ago

That "trusting your gut over the manual" line hits home. @christopher67 brought up a good point about ruined threads, I've seen the same with head bolts. Some people think their feel is better than a spec, until they stretch a bolt or crack a casting. Honestly, the numbers on the page exist because someone already made that mistake and measured the fix.

christopher671mo ago

Ever strip a plug hole in an aluminum head? I did that once by going by feel, and it was a huge pain to fix. Now I always use a torque wrench, especially on modern engines.