I Made a Mistake | Why You Should Never Trust a Cheap Torque Wrench

I get myself into a lot of bad DIY situations. This is the story of me overextending my DIY abilities and making a big mistake with a repair to my car. I hear you asking, should I buy a cheap torque wrench? This is a first-hand account of why you should never trust a cheap torque wrench from Harbor Freight. I had a valve cover gasket leak on my 2006 Scion tc and I needed an inch-pound torque wrench to retighten the head bolts once I replaced the old gasket. The torque wrench was faulty and I ended up snapping a head bolt and then had to extract it with a screw extractor, along with some backwoods engineering. Harbor Freight makes some great, inexpensive tools, but you should not buy one of these cheap torque wrenches if you plan on using it to work on something important like an engine. Especially be wary of the inch-pound torque wrenches as these need to be extra precise. Moral of the story: if you plan on pushing your DIY capabilities, buy nice tools and work in a proper garage.