Over Torqued Head Bolts?

[The Sheepish Lion]

hello

im in the process of doing a head gasket job on my 2.3L ranger, and i made a rookie mistake and misread the directions, and ended up over torquing the head bolts. i accept the fact that i made a mistake, but i curious as to what i can do next. do i replace the new bolts with another set and install a new gasket as well? if i have to replace the gasket and bolts, i rather do it now then roll the dice and have leaks later on and have to pull it all apart again. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks guys!

 

[brinker88]

1.) Replace the bolts. They are torque to yield, which means they stretch

2.) Pray the threads in the block aren't ruined. Chasing them with a tap would be a good idea.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

How much over are we talking here?

 

[adsm08]

How much over are we talking here?

This is my thought as well. Are we talking 10 ft.lbs, or 100? I generally take the last round a 1/8th of a turn or so past the last mark and don't have any problems.

On the other hand, the early 3.0s had issues with their non-TTY bolts being too stiff and popping heads.

 

[The Sheepish Lion]

about 40 over. i misread the directions where it said 90-100 degrees, but read it as foot pounds. i realized my error and pulled the bolts and the threads didnt have any metal on them, and they threaded in properly a second time.

it was a stupid mistake, so im trying to figure out what to do next so i wont have to let the truck sit longer. so pull the bolts, pull the head off, replace the bolts/gasket, and check to see if the block threads are ok then pray that nothing is ruined.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

I wouldn't be worried about the block/heads. If you are unsure, replace gasket and bolts.

 

[adsm08]

Agreed. If you pulled the bolts back out, def replace those. Do the gasket if it gives you piece of mind, but I would not worry about the hard parts at all.

 

[The Sheepish Lion]

so nearly doubling the torque wont hurt the block/head, its just a loss for the consumable bits like the gasket and bolts? i can live with that, just gotta give it all a once over for piece of mind. thanks guys, i greatly appreciate the help!

 

[adsm08]

It won't hurt the head as long as you stayed in sequence. If the new bolts thread into the holes the whole way you have nothing to worry about. The Lima is a tough little engine, not like it's a Cadillac Northstar that pulls the head bolt threads out of the block if you sneeze down the intake while the valves are open.

 

[The Sheepish Lion]

one last thing, ive heard that lubing the bolts will throw off the torque numbers when you go to tighten them, is that true? my pops suggested i put a little oil on the threads, but im not so sure now.

again, thanks for the help guys, i feel alot better knowing that i didnt do any damage to the engine after my mistake.

 

[aspevacek]

most times they want the bolts lubed so you get a more accurate torque reading. If the bolts are put in dry and they are meant to be lubed you will start to hit yeaild and start stretchign the bolt long before it was meant to and not have a proper torque load on the bolts. The directions shoudl tell you if the bolts go in lubed or dry.

Installation

NOTE: Lightly oil all bolt and threads before installation. Always use new bolts when installing a cylinder head.

That was on the web assembly instructions. So I would say Lube em up.......

 

[70roadrunner]

be sure to replace the gasket. i tried to re-use a set of gaskets once, they had been torqued, but not run. they lasted about 4 months, then one blew. replaced it, and 2 weeks later the other one blew.

 

[a31ford]

I'm glad you caught it before installing the engine,

Was the intake on yet ? if so I'd do those gaskets as well as head gaskets & head bolts.

Merry Christmas

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Just in case when you torque any part down I like to do the pattern in at least three steps to pull the gasket down even. I go as far as stepping it up 10 ft lbs at a time and you can use anti sieze on the threads to lube them up also. It dosent take much more time to pull it down slow so use the pattern alot of times you can feel the gasket compress until you hit your mark.

 

[Andy D]

yah,I even back the head off in stages. I also pre-set the timing to TDC. on #1 and match mark the distributor if I have to pull it.