SovietBeans

Hi guys, I am trying to get the clutch hydraulics on my 944S bled and would like to share everything I've done so far.

Currently, my clutch pedal snaps to its midpoint, where it finds resistance. There are no leaks in the system and I have replaced the master and slave cylinders, the braided hose, and the metal/rubber line that connects the master cylinder to the metal line that runs to the slave cylinder.

This is what I've done:

When I got the car the clevis was removed, upon installing a new clevis with a new plastic sleeve I noted the master cylinder was leaking. This is when I replaced the noted items. I did not bench bleed the master cylinder. The entire system was installed dry, and I initially attempted to bleed the system by filling it from the slave cylinder bleed screw with an oil can. This method resulted in the clutch pedal returning to ~1 inch below the top, and I had to pull it the rest of the way up.

After this I tried several different methods of bleeding, including attaching my fluid extractor to the slave cylinder to do a sort of "reverse power bleed". Nothing I tried was able to improve the state of the clutch pedal.

After reading the tales of millions of happy Motive power bleeder customers on the forums I ordered myself one, thinking I would just bite the bullet and that it would be a piece of cake to bleed with this magnificent tool.

My first attempt with the Motive tool was to pressurize it to about 10-12 PSI (I read somewhere that the 15 PSI recommended by Motive is a bit aggressive for these cars) and open the slave cylinder bleeder screw with the clutch pedal all the way up. As a side note, This is where I found out my power bleeder seeps fluid from the brass fitting between the two rubber hoses. Glad none got on the paint :/. After several minutes of pure, airless fluid coming out and no improvement to the clutch pedal, I tried a different method that was also recommended by someone, somewhere, which involved the clutch pedal being depressed slowly while the bleeder screw is open, closing the bleeder screw, and then slowly letting the clutch pedal back up. After several cycles of this, no air came out, and the clutch pedal did not improve.

Since I was capturing the fluid and could reuse it, I had the idea to use the power bleeder to run a bunch of fluid through the system for an extended period of time. I filled the Motive tool up, pressurized it, and got underneath to open the bleeder. My dad was up top maintaining the pressure in the power bleeder, while I was monitoring the steady flow of fluid into my catch bottle (he accidentally pressurized the Motive tool to about 15 PSI, so don't know if that could have caused a problem) After about 5 minutes, air pockets began to come out of the bleeder, and continued to do so for about 10 seconds. After another minute or so of no air, I figured I had finally gotten the stubborn air out of the system.

Upon closing the bleeder screw, relieving the pressure from the power bleeder, and closing the brake fluid reservoir, the clutch pedal now snapped to the floor. I checked for leaks, or a burst line, and found nothing. I pumped the pedal about 20 times (I know pumping the pedal usually does nothing good in clutch systems), and the pedal now has about 50% operation, as described in the beginning.

I do not know what else to do try to get this clutch bled, and now I have no idea why the pedal is significantly worse than before. I am worse off now than I was before I touched it with the power bleeder.

I am appreciative of any suggestions on what to do to get this clutch bled. If I can't figure this out, I will just take it somewhere to get it bled after I get the dozen other things it needs taken care of. I don't really feel like spending another 10 or more hours of my life trying to get this done when most cars are a piece of cake.

Thanks!

993944S2

I sympathize with you. I also recently changed both master and slave, dry. Proper bleeding was elusive. I ended up with a vacuum hooked up to the top of the reservoir. This also took multiple times but I was able to extract air bubbles from the system. I have no idea if this was the smoking gun, as I also tried just about everything you mentioned above. But, after applying vacuum a few times the clutch worked properly. Good luck.

Dan Martinic

The only time I ever had trouble bleeding the clutch was when my clutch fork was cracked. I found this with a miniature probe camera.

FYI I use the Motive bleeder and it works just fine--however, you have to push the clutch pedal a few times during operation (at least that works for me). Good luck

SovietBeans

I will consider both of your suggestions and give them a try. I'll update with what doesn't work for me, or hopefully what does work

Thanks guys

Zirconocene

Hopefully someone else will chime in, but I have a vague memory of reading about the need to also adjust a spring or tensioner on the clutch pedal to really dial things in. I have not had to explore that (yet) but maybe that's part of the issue that you're seeing.

Good luck

Dan Martinic

There is an adjustment to the big spring... but also note the required free-play. This you can easily tell by wiggling the master cylinder rod. Grab it and if it's tight, loosen the adjustment a bit. The pedal should also feel similar to the brake pedal in "free" action

KevinGross

You have air in the system. If all you've done is the cylinders and lines, the spring is fine. There are a bazillion posts on this topic. Keep reading.