How easy is it to overtorque tranny pan?

[Badinfo]

Hey everyone. How easy is it to overtorque the tranny pan on a w124 300e? I changed the filter/fluid and drove to Houston from Austin and left my car in parking for a week. When I took it out again I noticed the tranny gasket was leaking. I found out the gasket had a tear in it causing it to split. I ordered a new one and put it on but my battery is dead so I havent been able to fill the tranny back up yet. I am just concerned that I warped the pan. I had torqued it by hand using a medium sized socket ratchet untill I felt enough resistance that moderate effort wasn't turning the bolt. To be honest I am pretty sure I warped the pan but I just wanted to make sure I am not being paranoid.

Oh, and the pan was not leaking during the drive, so I am not concerned about any possible damage to the transmission.

[JerryWagner]

Very Easy to overtorque, take the pan off and look at the holes for any distortions, take a ball pean hammer and gently tap down and raises in the pan and re install with new gasket, I think the torque for this is around 15ft lbs but not sure, no need for a torque wrench, just snug them evenly and tighten in an offsetting pattern like you would do when tightening head bolts

[Badinfo]

Thanks for the quick reply! I have never straightened any metal or seen it done so could you please ellaborate a bit? Just set the pan down on a flat surface and use this hammer to hammer the tabs perfectly flat? I noticed one of them was raised up when i put the pan back on (in the middle around the holes for the bolt). And do you know type of store would carry a ball pean hammer? Im afraid im not familiar with this tool. Thanks!!!

Originally Posted by Badinfo

Thanks for the quick reply! I have never straightened any metal or seen it done so could you please ellaborate a bit? Just set the pan down on a flat surface and use this hammer to hammer the tabs perfectly flat? I noticed one of them was raised up when i put the pan back on (in the middle around the holes for the bolt). And do you know type of store would carry a ball pean hammer? Im afraid im not familiar with this tool. Thanks!!!

A nice big cast iron table saw, such as a Delta, would provide a perfect platform to lay the pan on. This will tell you if it's warped, or to high at bolt holes etc.

If bolt holes have pulled out the lip around the bolt hole, I would lay the pan flush on the table say and then ues any hammer and a thin stripe of metal and place it over the hole and litely tap the area out until flat.

[Mike Richards]

Torque on these bolts is only 8nM - newton meters. To get lbs. you take approx 3/4 of 8 and come up with 6 lbs - seems kinda light. I torque 'um up close to 10 lbs - no problems yet.

My 2 cents.