head gasket bolt retourqing

since were on that subject, i rememebr being told on the old thc that we
should have out head bolts retourqed at 100 000 kms.
fact or fiction if fact why?
dealer said no.
teh know anything of this, oh nother qeastion how long to 02 sensors last?
we got 155 000 kms now, ive mention before the stumbling, seems to idle lil
rough now too.

 

99 accent

 

I've never heard of re-torquing a cylinder head before. To me that
would be an engineering issue. The o2 sensor on my Tiburon (97') has
passed the 190,000 mark. Like any electrical part, you never know
when it's going to go. Much depends on how well you take care of your
car. What kind of fuel, regular maintainance, oil changes.

...Ron

 

very anal with maitenance

 

i love the 1st gen tibs, id love to get one fr second car

 

All in all the 97' has been a great car. Now it is starting to show
that it has some miles on it. It's being taken in to the shop to have
its first replacement clutch installed. 190,000+ miles is something I
would never have expected out of any car, clutch wise that is.

...Ron

 

It's questionable whether you'd prevent any failures by doing this. There
is no official recommendation to do so. On the other hand, if it's your
own labor and the bolts are readily present under the valve cover, then
there's little to lose, either.

 

our cars starting to show signs of needing a clutch job , once its warmed up
it vibrates on acceleration, and at high speeds you can smell the clutch..
we have 155 000 kms on our 99 accent

 

well if its not recommeded why bother..
just puzzles me why a tech would suggest it in the first place..

 

I've done it on a few cars in the past, along with valve adjustments and
other things that newer engines apparently don't need. However, youre
friend's head gasket failure could well have been caused by loose or
unevenly torqued head bolts. As long as it's done properly, I don't see
how re-torquing the head bolts could cause a problem. Perhaps just
checking them once in a (great) while would be enough to ensure that you
never have a problem with them loosening.

 

I'm thinking Ford had a prolem with them stretching 10 or 15 years
ago. I could be all wet but I think it was a deal around aluminum
heads on cast iron blocks that led to stretching head bolts that
eventually failed or let the gasket fail resulting in antifreeze and
engine oil getting together. At the time they were reccomending
retorquing around 60 or 80,000. Once those ideas get started I think
they tend to spread and become one of those hoary old bits of wisdom.
;-)

 

wassnt that the 3.8 v6 in the fords that had the constant head gasket
failures?