JKelly

I hooked up a motive power bleeder to the brake fluid resevoir and pumped it up to about 8lbs until the blue hose blew off the bottom of the reservoir. There wasn't a clamp on it. I assume there is supposed to be a clamp on the blue hose underneath the reservoir correct?
I put a clamp on it and pumped the power bleeder up to 10lbs. The system held the pressure with no leaks.

Next, I put some super blue in the bleeder, attached it to the reservoir, and pumped it up to about 10lbs. I got under the car and opened the bleed screw on the slave cylinder. Some old fluid drained out and then quit . I closed the bleed screw, released the bleeder pressure and worked the clutch a couple of times. After that, I pumped up the bleeder again to 8lbs and opened the bleed screw. Fluid poured out for a little bit and then quit again. So I kept doing this until there was clean fluid flowing through.
Is this a "normal" way of bleeding the slave cylinder or should the fluid have run freely without having to stop and press on the clutch?

After the slave was bled, I took the car for a spin and it shifted better, but the clutch still didn't feel like what I was expecting. Should I go ahead and take the slave off of the lower bell housing and bleed it by pushing the plunger in?

TIA

lorenolson888

I think there need to be some play in the clutch pedal otherwise the fluid cannot flow freely...

I did the same with my power bleeder the first time!

Fabio421

You should have had the fluid in the power bleeder from the start. You should have had fluid flowing constantly at a slow pace from the bleeder screw once it was cracked. It is recommended that you depress the clutch pedal a couple of times during the process. As for the clutch not feeling like you expected, check the spring tension on the pedal and see if it is to spec. That could be why it feels different than expected.
Keep us posted.

SteveG

If the hose came off the res, and you haven't gotten a steady flow w/o bubbles from the slave, there most likely is air in the system, although I'm also puzzled as to why it stops flowing, could there be gunk in the lines now? Since the system has been opened, and you changed colors of fluid, why don't you change out the old, i.e., a complete bleed? It would be the right thing to do at this point. There is also the possibility of air in the pedal slave and that is a bitch job requiring a Romanian gymnast. Search for procedure. But this is one of those jobs that are problematic, frequently faster to start at the beginning.

hacker-pschorr

I posted some time ago that my experience with the power bleeder & my clutch was exactly the same. Even after a new master & slave with all new lines, it does not just flow out with the bleeder pressureized.

With the power bleeder attached, I pumped the clutch a few times with a friend opening / closing the valve on the slave in between pumps.

nosnow

I just recently wrestled with this. Not fun at all. There is a lot of valuable info in other posts about clutch bleeding. I was in the same exact spot as you with the clutch almost to what I expected and from what I read the way the master sits it is possible to get a little air trapped in the top and the only way to get it out is to reverse bleed or take apart the master. Bleeding 928 clutches are a pain in the rear end.

My solution derived from several posts:
- Make sure the clutch rod between the pedal to the master is correctly adjusted (1/2 turn)
- Jack up the right side of the car (try to keep the driver side as the low point as there is a baffle in the resovoir for clutch fluid)
- Fill master up to the top
- Pull the clutch inspection cover
- Take a needle nose lock plyers and slowly press the rod into the slave 3-4 times
- Check clutch action
- Lower car
- Bleed excess fluid from the master through the left front caliper
- Drive it like you stole it

JKelly

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm getting ready to work on it now.

The plan is to check and bleed/re-bleed everything in this order:
- Check clutch spring tension.
- Bleed rear brakes: right/passenger then rear left/driver
- Bleed front brakes: right/passenger then left/driver
- Bleed slave cylinder: bleed, then use push rod technique, then final bleed
- Bleed master cylinder: bleed from inside of car
- Top off reservoir.
- Drive it like it belonged to someone else.

The initial "dry" pressuring was to check the integrity of the system (per power bleeder instructions).

I'll assume that the intermittent fluid flow is normal. Hopefully it is caused by having good seals (wishful thinking?). The fluid that came out of the slave wasn't crud-filled at all. It didn't look too bad.

docmirror

I had nothing but trouble bleeding my clutch. Finally, I did it 'my' way and got it to work right.

Remove the slave from the bell housing and compress completely.
Use a power-bleeder connected to the slave nipple.
Get ALL air out of the power-bleed line and nipple to slave(difficult).
Use about 10Lbs of pressure, and crack the slave nipple.
Keep flowing fluid until the reservoir overflows, very messy.
Close the nipple, then re-mount the slave in the bellhousing.
Use the clutch pedal to extend the slave cylinder and pump until furm.
Clean up all the brake fluid.

nosnow

As a side note when cleaning the brake fluid up make sure you dry the brake pressure warning connectors or you might get to see what that warning light looks like when illuminated.

JKelly

All finished .

The brake pedal is nice and firm. The clutch seems to work properly, and the shifting is better, but it is still notchy, which is annoying.......although, not as bad. I would really like to get rid of the notchiness if that is possible. The clutch disks, pressure plate, throw-out bearing, and pilot bearing were replaced about 1 1/2 years ago. Maybe the "T" adjusters need to be adjusted again (?).

In regards to bleeding the master cylinder, whoever originally suggested to pump the bleeder up to 10lbs to bleed the cylinder was SMOKING CRACK . It only needs about 3 or 4lbs of pressure if even that. After I got the snap ring off of the plunger, the whole thing shot out and filled the floorboard with brake fluid. The information came from a previous thread somewhere.

Has anyone experienced a difference in shifting from changing the motor mounts? I changed mine a couple of years ago, but I think they are going bad again (anchor mounts).

docmirror

Well, that was me, the notorious crack smoker. First, you don't bleed a 'master cylinder' you bleed a hydraulic system, disassembly of the master is on your own nickel, I didn't advise it. Next, if you are bleeding from the top down, you'll note that gravity will make the air rise - just the opposite of what you're trying to do when bleeding. Finally, I did warn that bleeding my way, from the bottom going up was going to be messy.

JKelly

Doc,

Actually, I got the tip from a post by crack smoker "JE928Sx4" back in 2004. It was in reference "to bleed the clutch master from inside the car." It worked good, but the 10lbs of pressure seemed a little bit much IME. The fluid made like a fountain coming out of the firewall .

UKKid35

One and a half years is plenty of time for the pilot bearing to start sticking again.

New Anchor mounts a few weeks ago and the increased smoothness in gear changes is very noticeable, or, to put it another way I don't have to concentrate like I used to in order to change smoothly.

Mike Frye

JKelly,
Glad everything is back together and air-free.


How's your tranny fluid? Is it possible the notchiness is coming from back there? Is it any better warm than cold? If so you may want to check/fill/upgrade to something different.

I replaced mine with the redline synthetic stuff within weeks of getting my car and it helped a lot. It's still stiff the first few shifts after sitting for a while in the cold, but after that it's smoooooth.

JKelly

I remember my shifting being more smooth when I put in new mounts. If the angle of the engine changes with the compression of the motor mounts, I would think that could change the angle of something somewhere else too; or add stress somewhere in the drive line .

I use Redline also and it has been in there for about 4 years. Warm or cold doesn't make a difference. The seal seeps a little, so I'll check the level and top it off. It may be a little low, which could affect shifting (?).

I still wasn't completely pleased with the shifting after the bleed, so I dropped the exhaust (stock), dropped the clutch pack, removed the heat shields, and checked both the front ball cup bushing and the rear coupler. The pilot bearing was still like new, the front ball cup was good and the rear coupler was missing half a bushing on one side . It's amazing how fast you can take the clutch out of these cars.......less than 2 hours if you're familiar with it, probably 30 minutes or less if you're a pro and have an X-pipe installed.