PSA: I bought a cheap knockoff torque wrench for a head gasket job and it cost me a whole engine.

It was a $40 wrench from an online seller, looked just like the good one. I used it to torque down the head on a 6.7 Powerstroke. The wrench clicked, but the bolts were way under-torqued. Head gasket blew after 50 miles, warped the head. The repair bill was over $8,000. I learned the hard way that some tools are not worth the savings. Has anyone else had a tool fail that badly on a big job?

3 comments

3 Comments

grace6071mo ago

Honestly sounds like a one-off bad tool more than a blanket rule. Those wrenches get dropped or mistreated all the time, even the pricey ones can go out of whack. Did you check the calibration before starting such a big job? I'd blame a faulty unit before saying all budget tools are trash.

cole35620d ago

Saw a torque wrench comparison video the other day where they tested a bunch of cheaper ones. Most of them were actually pretty consistent until you got into the seriously cheap stuff.

taylor_miller101mo ago

You said it looked just like the good one. Sounds like you just got a bad unit, not that all cheap tools are junk.