Old timer's torque wrench comment made me change my whole routine

I've been turning wrenches for 12 years in Tulsa and always just clicked my torque wrench until it clicked, then moved on. Last month a guy I respect from the Freightliner shop watched me do a head gasket and said 'you know that click is just the start, you gotta feel the bolt stop stretching.' I blew it off at first, but then I torqued a rod bolt with a beam style wrench and realized I was leaving 15 foot pounds on the table with my snap-on digital. Now I verify every critical fastener with a second pass after 10 minutes of settle time. It's added maybe 20 minutes per job but I haven't had a single come back since. Anyone else out there trust the click or do you double check on engine internals too?

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the_wren21d ago

Take that settle time idea even further and do a third check after the engine's been hot once. I started doing that on main cap bolts last year and found two that had relaxed more than I would've believed. The metal needs to cycle through some heat before it really holds its final stretch. It feels like overkill at first but now it's just part of my process, like cleaning the mating surface twice. I even do a quick re-check on the torque sequence before I button up the oil pan, just to be safe.