Hello all, Honda newbe here. Last year I picked up a fairly decent Civic 1500s hatchback. It developed a head gasket leak so I pulled the head, sent it off the the machine shop and proceeded to reinstall yesterday. When went to torque the bolts down on the first pass, (22 ft. Ibs.) it felt like I was tightening them up more than what my wrench was set. Not having used it in long while, I proceed to continue and when I made the 2nd pass at 49 ft. lbs., it took very little effort before the wrench "clicked" indicating the desired torque had been reached. Upon inspection, I discovered that my wrench my have actually torqued the bolts to around 35-40 ft. lbs. due to a malfunction. My question is, should I just continue or pull the head and start with a fresh gasket?

 

it will be fine, as long as you didn't over torque on the final pass.