Intake manifold torque settings.

Had the check engine light come on yesterday. I new it was the intake manifold gasket. It has been giving the usual symptoms for a couple of weeks now. Throaty exhaust rumble. Irregular power levers, Smelly fumes coming into the cabin (Smells like mildewy pot.) and now irregular idle.
This is my 3rd. set of lower manifold gasket in a year and half. The first one the dealer did under warranty but torqued them under the old specs. 17ft lbs. I redid them 6 months latter to 14 ft lbs. Now they cracked again and I think I know why. To torque the lower manifold nuts I used a 6 in. extension. I think even though I set the torque wrench to 14 ft lbs. the 6 in extension was not transfering the right setting making me over tighten the nuts. Sometimes we get sloppy and do not hold the wrench properly, meaning square to the nut and braced with the other hand at the head of the wrench. Who knows even if you hold the wrench properly maybe the extension distorts the readings anyway
So this time I just set the torque wrench to 11 ft. lbs. and it runs great now.
I also change the oil to 5w50 syn. I will tell you in a couple of weeks how thats going.

John

The extension shouldnt have any effect on the torque wrench. More likely your wrench isnt very accurate. Most arent unless you have some where to send it to have it calibrated yearly. They are even farther off at very low or very high settings. A smaller inch pound wrench is better to use for anything under about 20 ft lbs. With as low of torqe as the IMGs are set at even a couple foot lbs off can make quite a difference.

The revised spec is 13 ft lbs btw.