Maciek

I must be an idiot, but I can't seem to get my clutch bled properly, even with the motive power bleeder. I have the back of the car jacked up, I open up the slave cylinder until I get NO bubbles, just clean ATE blue fluid, close it, and the clutch goes halfway to the floor. I repeated this procedure several times today. What am I doing wrong? Any help will be greatly appreciated

7thStranger

Did you replace anything?
Are you just replacing fluid?

Dave in Chicago

I've never raised the back of the car to bleed the clutch (and I've bled them at least 20+ times now). I just ramp the front of the car and go from there.

You must keep the level in the reservoir up past that hose on the side, it goes to the clutch. If you're using the Motive, this is usually not an issue.

Once, when I did have an issue with clutch bleed (pulled the bloody bleed screw out to far and sucked air in there), I had to do the following:

1) Set-up car for bleeding, no Motive, just fill reservoir full
2) Loosen bleed screw and allow to "gravity bleed" for about 30 minutes. This will be a SLOW process and won't seem to make much progress. But, this seems to allow air to displace in the system.
3) Close bleed screw and give it a shot with the Motive now.

Worked for me.

sayporsha

I recently went through this (and half a pint of ATE blue), and learned this: DON'T OVER-BLEED IT! It's a very short distance from the master to the slave, and 4-5 pumps of the clutch pedal usually does it. The reservoir level falls below the feed tube very quickly, in which case you get to start over .

Maciek

7th Stranger,
I replaced the rubber to metal line that attaches to the top of the slave cylinder. Then I bled all the brakes (no problems) and attempted to bleed the clutch. I can't seem to get it more then half firm.
Dave,
Thanks for the responses. I am going to try the motive method one more time this morning and if that doesn't work, I'll set up the gravity method. Thanks for the suggestions.

RedlineMan

Hey Mac;

Try using the Motive with the clutch pedal depressed. I have been threatening for years to sit down, analyse the system, and figure out why I've only had success when depressing the pedal before opening the bleeder, but so far I have never done the component study.

I bleed them by myself manaully. I pump 5-6 times, jam my floor broom handle into the seat to depress the pedal, then climb under and crack the screw open. Works every time!

Maciek

Redline Man,
Thanks for the tip, do you mean 5-6 pumps on the clutch pedal? I would use the 15psi on the motive as per usual correct? I will try that in a few minutes. Thanks again!

Scott M.

Try this trick...

Attach a length of clear tubing from the slave bleed nipple to the closest brake bleed nipple. Fill the line with brake fluid. Slightly crack open both the brake and slave bleeder, slowly depress the brake pedal a few times. Test. Repeat.
This essentially back bleds the slave, as most air will be trapped in the back portion of the clutch slave.