Spent 2 years using the wrong torque wrench setting on cylinder heads

I had this 1980s Cessna 172 and kept getting weird compression readings after top overhauls. Turned out I was using the torque spec from a manual for a different engine model the whole time. A senior mechanic noticed my readings were off by about 15 ft-lbs and pulled the old manual out. Felt pretty dumb when I saw the right number was way lower than what I had been doing. Anyone else ever mix up specs from different service bulletins?

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1 Comment

cole_hall2h ago

I had a buddy who torqued his landing gear bolts on a Piper Cherokee to the spec for the flap brackets once. He couldn't figure out why the gear felt stiff until we found the manual pages were glued together from an old coffee spill. Ended up stripping two bolts and had to drill them out on the hangar floor. Ever have a bad manual or cross-reference chart cause you a headache like that?