gasket remover... okay, but what about the new gasket?

[Phil B]

Do you torque the drain plug to official spec, or just "wrench it til it's tight as it gets"?  :-}

I go until it feels comfortably snug.
It is thin aluminum. If you go as "tight as it gets" it never will: you will strip the threads out of the aluminum.
If it drips you can go another 1/4 turn.
Spend for a new crush washer: it makes it easy to have no leaks and not have to tighten as hard as you can.
If unsure - torque to spec with a new washer. You'll find it isn't that much torque.

oh nuts.... I just realized I overtorqued it.
I misremembered conversion from Nm to ft/lb.
I think its supposed to only be 20ft/lb, but I put itup to 40 
erm.... leave it as-is?

[gsJack]

I've done 400,000 motorcycle miles with frequent oil changes without ever changing a drain plug crush washer on 4 Hondas and 2 GS500s putting 80-100k miles on 4 of those bikes including the 2 GSs.  Never had a leaker (yet). 

interesting.

Do you torque the drain plug to official spec, or just "wrench it til it's tight as it gets"?  :-}

Never tighten things until they are as tight as you can get them, that's how things like filter cover studs get broke.  I tighten things by feel until they are as tight as required and never use a torque wrench except for engine work to tighten head bolts, cam brg caps, rod cap bolts, etc trusting my torque wrench hands to do it right.   

I have wondered lately however if I'm still right on since at 80 I'm not nearly half as strong as I was when I was 18, might be time to recalibrate.     So far, so good.