Hand tight vs. torque wrench on oil pan drain plug?

I've never, ever, replaced the washer, on any Toyota I've ever owned.

 

Go to harbor freight and get the store brand torque wrench if you don't already have one. I use it for everything just in case cuz I'm not the best at judging torque!

I also have the Fumoto valve on my Tundra, but not on my wife's Prius. So I always torque to 30 ft lbs on the Prius. It's quick and easy and the Harbor Freight 1/2" torque wrench is cheap and affective.

 

And I use for the filter housing and filter drain plug thingy. I used to over tighten the drain plug thingy and couldn't get it off independently of the filter housing, so now I torque them both to spec and it's been great and easy working

 

Be careful with cheap wrenches, and use your common sense. Cheap ones are known to not work properly all the time.

 

Just to clarify:
"Hand tight" has always meant, tighten with your hand. Literally, just using your hand.
Are we talking about the difference between using a wrench and tightening by feel vs using a torque wrench and knowing the exact ft lbs?

 

I don't care. It's your Toyota, do what you want with it. Lol

 

I did. The (old style) fumoto took almost a half hour to drain. The valvomax does it in about 9 minutes. The only downside is you gotta clean out the drain fitting/hose after you're done... no biggie. Plus the fumoto blue fiber washer always had a very slight seep, i.e. the pan would look a touch moist a couple inches around the valve after a few months. The valvomax seal washer is metallic (not sure what), has a kind of built-in o-ring in it and the pan stays dry as a bone.

 

Pulling the plug takes about 60 seconds to drain.

 

My fumoto-style valve has never seeped and it takes maybe 5-10 min to fully drain. Good to hear other experiences though.

 

Just pointing out it's not necessary, unless you have a leak.

And I've never had a leak.

 

I've been wrenching my whole life, but I am still a fan of torque specs. I look them up for critical fasteners everytime. Especially for safety or sealing.

I don't think I am capable of crushing an aluminum washer perfect by feel. I've bought used Toyotas and have seen what overtightening does to the crush washer. I have had to cut a few off because the aluminum wrapped around the flange of the drain plug. I had one that was leaking because the washer was so deformed.

Oil plug washers are cheap, my torque wrenches are easily accessible in my toolbox. Plus, I just like the professional level finish to the job. (Ironic, considering my tundra had always been serviced at the dealer and its washer was very deformed)

 

I went a very long time having never torqued a drain plug, but then a couple years back I bought some nice torque wrenches and now I'll sometimes torque the drain plug. If nothing else, it showed me that I had been overtightening them my whole life.

I did over-torque the plastic oil filter housing cap a while back. Ironically, I did it when using a torque wrench. I had tightened that thing by feel quite a few times before and always questioned if I was overtightening or under-tightening it. Being it was plastic, I was always afraid of breaking it, but I didn't want to underdo it either. So I borrowed what was probably a very cheap Craftsman torque wrench from my dad one oil change and went to torque the cap. Never felt a click, kept going until I thought there's no way it should be that tight. So at that point I backed it off and tried again. That time I felt the click, very light, barely noticeable, meaning the first try I drastically overdid it. Got all done, fired up the truck and heard oil gushing everywhere. I had fractured the plastic cap. I was lucky I was able to get a replacement that day before the dealership closed.

Sometime after that I picked up some good torque wrenches and I use those for the filter housing cap now.

 

Oh and I agree with the couple posters that commented on the "hand tight" thing; "hand tight" to me means you used your fingers.