How do your corectly torque head bolts?

[Aodhan Karlsson]

Hello,

I have a ’96 Ford Contour GL with the 2.0L I-4 Zetec (vin 3) :woohoo: – Recently my car had some cooling issues and blew its head gasket :blink: I got the head off and removed the gasket but I’m now stumped by the head bolt torque specs. The Service manual and Fel-Pro both say that Step One 15-22 ft. lbs. Step Two 30-37 ft. lbs. Step Three tighten 90 to 120 degrees, my question is what the two different numbers are in each step?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Aidan

Topic

[josh]

Those numbers are the range of acceptable torque. For example, 15-22 ft lbs, any torque between those 2 numbers would be acceptable. In the case of step 3, you tighten the bolt an additional 90 to 100 degrees of rotation. Also remember to torque the middle bolts first and work your way out.

[Aodhan Karlsson]

Thanks,
that’s sorta what I was thinking- it just seems to inaccurate if I do it that way. My Honda Civic was something along the lines 1. 22 lb-ft 2. 61 lb-ft which left no question as to the final torque. I know they’re torque to yield bolts in this application, but I could go low at 45 ft. lbs. plus 90 degrees or go high which would be 59 ft. lbs. plus 120 degrees. I see a final torque being around 125+ ft. lbs all the way up to broken bolts or a stripped block lol.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Perhaps this will help.

[Aodhan Karlsson]

Thanks Eric,

Great video which I watched right before pulling my head off- unfortunately (fortunately?) on Honda/Acura they give only one torque value for each step. On the 2.0 Zetec each step come with 2 numbers, so I don’t know if I can just torque to any value that’s between the two (really wide open) or if there is a more accurate explanation.

A good friend of mine who trained at AVTEC in Alaska thought with the last step in degrees that maybe I was to rotate 120 and come back 90 degrees… I seem to recall there being a similar step on my Honda harmonic balancer which was also a TTY type bolt, however he was still stumped by steps one and two.

#1 15-22 ft. lbs.
#2 30-37 ft. lbs.
#3 tighten 90 to 120 degrees

[EricTheCarGuy]

I get what you’re saying. It’s really your choice, the key is to remain consistent. If it were me I’d select the torque rating in the middle of the scale and go with that. If they give you a range it’s just that, a range and you can pick what works best for you but like I said whatever you choose make sure you use that same rating across ALL the head bolts.

To my knowledge there has never been a ‘degree’ torque on a harmonic balancer, a torque spec yes but they only use degree readings for things like head bolts. As for the degree setting, same thing, pick a number and stick with it through ALL the bolts.

It’s really strange you have those settings. Is this a FSM?

Hang on a min I think I get it but I’d love to see where you’re getting that procedure and what they describe the procedure to be.

It may be that the first number is the first torque setting, then you go back and torque to the second spec. The same may be true for the degrees but it still seems strange to me because what you show is a RANGE not an exact spec.

[Author]

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