Re-torquing heads

[Kevin 007]

For me it is common practice to re-torque heads on 6.9/7.3 idi's and many other diesels once in the course of their life. It was actually factory advised on the 6.9s at 30,000miles. and the ones that didn't get it done, are blowing head gaskets later on in life (now). And the head bolts almost always take another half turn or so and then they stay put.

I have never done this on a 6.2 mainly because I don't feel like removing the injection lines to get the valve covers off. But I will be getting an 85 burb for my wife to drive; it has an untouched stock 6.2/700r4 and the motor has never been apart or worked on, besides a rebuilt IP. I like motors that have not been touched. it has 190,000miles on it and I want to re-torque the heads for good measure against future head gasket failure. I will crack each bolt loose in sequence (to free it up and eliminate a false torque reading) and then re-torque to 5lbs over spec or so.
Has anyone re-torqed a 6.2 before?

 

[ocnorb]

Whats a 6.2??

Just kidding... Seems like a bad idea on a motor that has made it that many miles happily.


Almost a "fix it til it breaks" kind of a thing...

 

[Black dawg]

by the time you pull the intake and injection lines, you almost have the heads off. Every 6.2-6.5 Ive torn apart the bolts were not tight. also the bolts have sealer on them, I wonder if it would be affected by retorquing?

 

[Kevin 007]

Yeah good points guys.
Head bolts always seem tight when removing because the kinda freeze in their position. However they are still stretching. Thats why I break em loose before applying torque otherwise the torque wrench will be clicking away and the bolts have not moved.

 

[lindstromjd]

Yeah, stupid TTY bolts... Last time I did heads on a 6.2, I just put ARP head studs in. No need to worry about THEM ever stretching.