I'm a bit puzzled. Whenever I fit new plugs to my wife's R-reg 414, I always use a torque wrench (because aluminium scares me). However, they always seem very loose to me when I come to remove them at the next service (yesterday No 1 would have come out with just the socket extension, no need for the T bar).
Any ideas why this should be? Should I try re-torquing them after a few miles? Is the 20 lb ft in Haynes too low?
Your collective wisdom appreciated.
Peter
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My guess is that 20lb ft is barely crushing the sealing washer. Fitting a spark plug is mainly about feel. Tighten it slowly with a normal ratchet and you will start to "feel" the washer being squashed. Once the washer is compressed, a little nick up is all that is required.
"gazzafield" wrote in message news:XOGdnVxmp snipped-for-privacy@pipex.net...
Yeah, chuck the torque wrench away when dealing with sparkplugs with sealing washers. As the above poster says, tighten the plug until you feel the washer start to compress, then keep going until there's a marked increase in resistance. The first few times you do it, it may feel like the threads are being pulled out, but it's just the washer compressing that you're feeling.
When re-using plugs, remember the washer will of already been crushed, so just nip them up (or use the torque wrench if you want).
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