oil plug

[hitmachine101]

good morning guys

have a 97 M3 -- just need to know how many foot ilbs of torque to put on the oil plug when im re-installing it,, striped it once and that was an expensive mistake,, I left my 101 project book at home unfortunatly

Thanks for the info

[Jeron]

M12 bolt (17mm wrench) = 18ft/bs (25nm)

It's a low setting so test your torque wrench on another bolt before tightenging.

[Jeron]

You could even go less Torque you can always increase it later. As long as it doenst leak you are fine.

[mac townsend]

most torque wrenches are 1/2" drive and will not adjust that low. it's even low for 3/8 drive wrench.

you should be able to learn to give a proper tug at the end of a 6-8-inch ratchet that will give you real close to the specified figures.

the stripping I've seen (I used to manage an oil change place) is caused by far too much ommmph on the wrench by semi-literate personnel who don't care.

Also, use a new gasket.

[Wayne 962]

I don't use a torque wrench for these. I just tighten it lightly, and if it leaks, then I crank it a bit more. Really, you don't want to overtighten, and the only real goal is to not have it leak. Actually, now that I think of it, I can't recall ever having to tighten it up, as it never really leaked (use a new crush washer, of course).

-Wayne

[Jeron]

Originally Posted by mac townsend

most torque wrenches are 1/2" drive and will not adjust that low. it's even low for 3/8 drive wrench.

you should be able to learn to give a proper tug at the end of a 6-8-inch ratchet that will give you real close to the specified figures.

the stripping I've seen (I used to manage an oil change place) is caused by far too much ommmph on the wrench by semi-literate personnel who don't care.

Also, use a new gasket.

Usually generally dont use a torque wrench on oil plugs either.

Any place I've seen selling torque wrenches has 1/2, 3/8 and 1/4 drive and usually more than one range of each. But yes you need to get the proper wrench and the 18ft/lbs need to be in the middle of its range.

The most common first timer screw up during an oil change is stripping the oil plug. For a first time DIY'er it couldnt hurt to get a $25 beam torque wrench or get a Craftsman clicker on sale for $50.