2002 Accord, inline-4

The manual says to torque the cylinder head bolts in 3 stages.

During stage 1, I was torquing the cylinder head bolts to 22 pounds, and I was following the correct sequence, by starting on the center bolts and moving my way to the outside ones. When I was done with stage 1, I just wanted to recheck my work and make sure all the bolts were torqued to 22 pounds. So, I went back to bolt #1 in the center, and the torque wrench (Gearwrench click style) was still set at 22 pounds, and bolt #1 probably turned about a 1/5th of a revolution. Then I went to the 2nd bolt and proceeded to go through all the rest of the bolts, and as I progressed, each bolt moved less and less while the torque wrench was still set at 22 pounds.


Now, the manual never says to go back and recheck them or try to retighten them, it only mentions starting at bolt #1 and going through bolt #10, and then jumping to Stage 2.

So, before I go to Stage 2, I want to make sure that I have completed Stage 1 correctly...

 

Yea just keep going over them until they stop moving before it clicks, then proceed and repeat. Even if you didnt the motors not going to blow up but its the "proper thing" to do. basically it seems to loosen up because when you tighten one bolt it brings the head down closer to the block which increases the gap between the underneath of the headbolts and the head which is why it seems to loosen up but its really just the head getting closer to the block. Good job on not proceeding and waiting for a clarification first.

 

You don't need to re-torque them in stages. As the post above me states, when you install the head, you do get a little slack in the bolts initially, due to gasket crush and what have you. However, any slack leftover from stage one, will be take up when torquing to the final stages. Won't hurt anything to be careful, but it isn't neccesary.