Torquing the bolts on a auto transmission pan?

[420SEX]

What are the specs on torquing the bolts that hold the pan on?

[leper421]

I looked through my FSM and the AT section isnt well laid out, so I didnt find a torque spec (sorry, but I'm not looking through 187 pages for this). I can tell you that it is definitely less than 20 foot pounds. Hand tight with a 3/8th ratchet is enough.

[DAEDALUS]

Don't get anywhere near 20 ft-lbs. They're probably 6mm bolts (verify). Standard torque for 6mm is 4-9 ft-lbs depending on the grade of the bolt stamped on the head. I'll bet spec torque is about 6 ft-lbs. I wouldn't go above 6.5 ft-lbs unless you find out otherwise from factory info. Just FYI, even at such low torque, each fastener will be exerting well over 1000 lbs of compression between the transmission an the pan.

[420SEX]

well, there is where i messed up then. the sheet that came with the gasket implied to put 29 ft-lbs so i did, and the gasket squished out the sides so I knew that didn't look right, I wish it would have been a cardboard gasket instead of cork! I hate cork gaskets!!!

Well, looks like I'll be draining the fluid once more. But this time I'm going to my friends shop to use a lift, I guess i'll just drain the fluid and save it to put back in. I'm not gonna just throw away $70 worth of synthetic fluid.

[Structure240sx]

they are 10mm bolts daedalus, but yea i jsut used a rachet to hand tighten them decently prolly sumthin like 10+ ft/lbs and i didnt have any leaks

[yellow_jacket]

They should usualy be torqued to 120 in.lbs.

[DAEDALUS]

10mm bolts? I don't have a 240 FSM handy, but don't confuse the diameter of the wrench you use on the heads with the size of the bolt. The shank doesn't care how big the head is, but if you apply the "standard torque" for a 10mm bolt on a fastener with a 6mm shank, it will shear off (at the shank, not the head). Look in the FSM under the General Info section for standard torque values. The sizes referenced are not for the heads. 10mm bolts take around 30 ft-lbs standard for a grade 7 bolt.

120 in-lbs (10 ft-lbs) will generate roughly 60ksi of stress on a 6mm bolt (for example), which isn't too high for good steel, though there's always some bending involved when you use wrenches, and this ups the stress a little. But it's probably good, as you found. I just think it's good to be sure about things beforehand, that they'll work right and that they won't break.