I've read about people retorquing their Rocker Pedestal Bolts. I am finishing up an injector replacement and have never torqued them in the 3 yrs I've owned my Excursion.

Should I retorque them while the valve cover is off or leave them alone?

Do they need hot torqued?

How important is it to retorque them if they have not been disturbed?

A diagram:




Thanks!

 

I would say check torque not retorque.

 

Lightening quick response, thanks!

So it's not a "don't disturb unless removed" thing?

 

Its like checking wheel lug torque. If the fasteners are light, they'll turn a bit if they are good, you just confirmed it.

 

So how FLAMMABLE are these rocker arm bolts? (see my mini update here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s....php?t=1501526 ) LOL.

 

My vote is yes, re-torque them. Torque is provided against the pressure from the o-rings and the copper crush washer. O-rings change over time, and the copper has been crushed already and been through countless heat cycles.

Others here will disagree with me on this, but they can chime in with their own opinions.

 

Good point about the injectors...what about the rocker arms?

 

When I was under there last I checked their torque. Was still snug as expected. Here's why I checked them tho; They use the same size socket as the injector hold down bolts, however they are torqued higher at 20 FOOT pounds than the injectors are at 120 INCH pounds, so before I hot torqued my injectors to 130 INCH pounds I retested my INCH pound torque wrench on the rocker bolts to get the feel for where it would click, and to test to make sure the wrench wasn't bound up or something each time before snuggling down each injector. Granted I'm kinda **** about those kind of details

 

I retorqued mine, but I found they didn't need it. That prompts me to agree with SRBF150 when he says to check the torque.

 

My in-lb torque wrench is a cheap-o Harbor Freight model, doesn't go up to 240 in-lbs. It's been very repeatable, so not too bad I think.

The 3/8" ft-lb torque wrench is much bigger and harder to get into spots.

That was the holdup last night. I was going to set the torque wrench to 240 in-lbs and check the easiest to reach bolts. But that was a no-go and turned into, "Okay, let's move this stuff and see if she'll start"

 

You're there. Put the wrench on them and start to tighten. It will either tighten then click, or just click. I had several that needed to be tightened when I checked mine.

Some of the more **** types recommend loosening the bolt a bit first, then re-torquing so you overcome any stuck bolt issue giving you a false torque reading (comes from a former moderator and full time mechanic as well as others)

 

Thanks, Chris.

I checked all but one bolt on the drivers side and a few on the passenger side. Not one took any turns, so I didn't worry about the last couple. Not quite OCD, but maybe a little "OC" ? LOL.

I was running out of steam quickly, so that was the end of the day

Thanks!