There is no way that was done at the factory, they are fitted by a robot and all five torqued at the same time with results feedback. The amount of torque required to do that is huge, in excess of 400Nm. Those little 1 litre 3 cylinder petrol engines worry me for the future, 116PS is a lot for such a little thing and if the do this cranks in, you can't rebuild them.

 

The dealership couldn't give any explanation, but the thread looked a right mess on the video, it was them that suggested it was over torqued, I thought cross threaded myself.

 

I once had a misfortune of taking my car to a garage where they used impact driver to tighten the wheel nuts. I nearly stripped the locking nuts when I tried to undo them. Needless to say, I never used that garage again. Maybe someone did something similar to your car.

 

I know what you mean about the small engines. I previously had a Smart car, great fun & build quality but absolutely clapped out at 60,000 miles, & it had it's engine oil changed at a max. of 5,000mile intervals. This seems to be the way most manufacturers are going, the days of the big 2.5ltr plus engines being the norm are gone.

 

They don't want to go this way, it is the stupid CO2 legislation that is to blame. You can't beat a 4 cylinder 2 litre 16v turbo that is looked after, the EA888 2l 16V is maturing quite well now the timing chain and oil consumption issues seem to have been dealt with. Give on of the 9300 mile oil changes with a top spec oil such as Longlife 3 and other proper servicing at intervals and it will do 200K miles without problems. I wonder if anyone will ever get 200K miles out of an EV battery?

 

Yes it's a strange one, as far as I know like I said earlier they have never been touched since the car left the factory. I don't know if they're checked when the pre delivery inspection is carried out. Another explanation could be the terrible road surfaces we have in the county. I guess I'll never know, all sorted know anyway. 🙂