Folks, remember to 'whack' the ratchet, rather than applying steady force. Much easier to strip a fastener with the latter.
But IMO, there's no reason to torque a drain plug to hell unless the pan surface is not perfectly flat, which has happened to me ONCE. On that car I tightened the drain plug by feel, as always, and after checking it a few hundred miles later (I always do on new cars for that reason), had to apply more pressure. It kept dripping, so finally had to apply the spec torque (lower end of the range), and that took care of it, by deforming the crush washer enough to close any gaps (which is not needed in most cases). But on all my other cars and motorcycles, and after 3+ decades of doing all my oil changes, never a drop, nor a stripped plug/threads. I view those specs as MAX torque, not what you want to initially put, but manufacturers want to simplify things... just like adding oil until you're a quart low, which is stupid IMO (and I obviously don't do, because I know how the sensor works).
Anyway, on weaker hex-head drain plugs, as evidenced by the last few posts, you either have to apply less torque, or have a supply of extra drain plugs
. But my main worry of keep using the recommended gorilla torque would be eventually stripping the pan; that'd be fun
. By the way, I can't describe what I know to be the right torque by feel, but my guess is I put around 15 lb/ft, rather than the 25 lb/ft typically recommended. And no, I'm not encouraging anybody to use less torque than recommended, especially those not mechanically inclined who don't understand what I'm talking about, but simply relaying my observations and personal experience
. Good day gang.