chickenbone2

Hey guys, ive been looking at this site for a while, great site!

I had recently installed a new clutch into my 944 last week and bleeding the clutch was one of my biggest problems while trying to finish the job. I hear 944s are notorious for their difficulty bleeding the clutch. Ive tried pumping air to force brake fluid down through the reserviour and that didnt work, and i hear pumping the clutch peddle is not the way to go about it. Each method i use, air just contiously keeps coming out of the bleeder along with some fluid. I cannot get the clutch peddle to get any pressure, it just drops to the floor. Raising the back of the car did not seem to help either. Does anyone have any tricks or methods of bleeding the clutch master cylinder that works?

shiners780

Are you using a Motive Power Bleeder? One of the best tools you can buy for working on these cars.

Welcome to RL by the way.

jerome951

When you installed the clutch, did you break open the hydraulic lines? If not, you shouldn't have air in the system unless it was there to begin with.

Raising the rear is important because it 1) allows air trapped in the slave cylinder to gravitate toward the bleed screw, and more importantly 2) helps maintain fluid level in the clutch reservior.

When I replaced my master and slave I was able to bleed the system by pumping the pedal (though it took a lot of fluid to get the air out). After bench bleeding both, I also bled the rubber hose that turns down toward the slave cylinder. Air can stay trapped in that and the small amount of fluid pushed through the hose by the master cylinder isn't enough to clear it.

If you replaced your master cylinder, make sure the stroke is adjusted properly. Mine wasn't when I first installed so every stroke only pushed a few drops of fluid. Took a while for me to figure that one out.

If you can rig up a reverse pressure bleeder (i.e. bleed from the slave toward the reservoir) I've heard of people having good success with this method.

chickenbone2

How does the Motive Power bleeder work? I have tried using a vacuum pump on the slave cylinder bleeder screw, as well as pressurizing the Brake fluid resiviour. I asked around and had a few guys tell me that I should simply attach a hose to the bleeder screw on the slave. This was it would go directly into the jar with little chance for air to get back inside the bleeder screw.

As for the lines themselves, I am using one hydraulic line to connect the MC to the Slave, so I don't think there is much of an opportunity for air to get trapped there.

Lol, I'd like to keep things somewhat simple, and avoid bench bleeding it.

The new MC and old oem MC are pretty much the same. I wasn't seeing much fluid come out while bleeding the system with either master cylinders...just a lot of air.

mortymower

Just like you mentioned, get a big tall bottle of brake fluid, plug a hose into the slave bleed screw and crack it open, put the hose directly into the tall bottle right below it. Tie a rope to the clutch pedal, pump it down (spring will suck it to the floor) and pull back up. Do this about 15-30 times and you will start to get pressure in the pedal, after you get pressure pump a few more times.

Close the bleed screw and crawl under and crack up after someone pushes to the floor for a few more times just for good measure. Make sure to have someone refilling the resivoir during the first part because it runs dry quickly. This whole process will tak baout 10 minutes

adrian1

Bought one and was the easiest thing i had to do.Best $45 i spent

jerome951

The hose that runs horizontally near the top of the firewall can retain air. Run water slowly through a hose and the upper wall of the hose doesn't get wet. Same thing is happening in your clutch line unless you're pumping really fast. I disconnected this line and held the down-stream end upward to ensure all air was out of it.

The Motive bleeder pressurizes the system (simulates pumping the pedal) but maintains a constant pressure. It can also deliver fluid so the reservoir doesn't run dry. I've never tried it on my clutch but it works great on brakes. Post your location and there's a good chance someone is nearby with one for you to borrow.

F18Rep

"Best $45 i spent"

Yup.

chickenbone2

I found this explaination on another site:

"The fastest way to get your clutch peddle back is to get a friend to help. Grab the biggest flat screwdriver you have (18"is good) and find access hole in the bell housing where you can see the clutch lever and the slave cylinder shaft. Have the friend depress the clutch peddle to get as much stroke on the clutch lever as possible. Hold the lever with the screw driver (it has a lot of spring tension so be ready) and have the friend work the peddle again and hold what you gain. Release the lever. Each time you release the lever you will gain a little more clutch peddle stroke.

What you are trying to do is push the fluid from the slave to refill the master. As you move more fluid to the master the peddle will come back to a more normal height. Once you get enough stroke with the peddle to drive the car it should come up to normal after a few days.

DO NOT, ever bleed the clutch by pushing the peddle and opening the bleeder valve. Always use a pressure bleeder or a vacume type. I have both and have used both. Replaced the slave on a car last week and had a working clutch in about two minutes after filling the reservoir.
Terry"

I understand the basic concept of it.....sort of, lol.
Push the clutch pedal down, and hold the clutch fork in place. Am I supossed to open the bleeder screw each time after holding the fork in place? I'm kind of lost there.

But when do I open the bleeder screw in this process, can anyone shed some light on how exactly this works? BTW I called a good amount of Porsche shops, and they all kinda chuckled at this situation sine it's soo common. They told me to invest in a Power Bleeder, but at the time, I'm snowed in.

chickenbone2

We took out the master cylinder and found out that it really wasn't pumping any air, or fluid for that matter, where it was supposed to. We took it apart and mixed and matched pieces from the old MC. Now it works great and pumps flawlessly, although we aren't quite sure as to why it didn't in the first place. We also had time to blow out the hydraulic lines with an air compressor.

We'll be putting everything back in the car tomorrow....when is actually over 10 degrees in the garage, lol. Fingers crossed.

Loquat15

sounds wierd

FRporscheman

Bleeding the 944 clutch is a major PITA. There are lots of good suggestions out there but sometimes on some cars, nothing really works. I spend 3 days trying to bleed my '93 and I still didn't get it perfect, just OK.

Jack the rear higher than the front! It helps if the driver side is higher than the passenger side. The clutch takes fluid from the brake reservoir. The hose connects fairly high at the reservoir, so the reservoir level goes down and quickly starts feeding air in. Keep the reservoir full! Fill it every 5-8 pumps!

gerhard951

motive bleeder will solve your headaches.....+++++++++1111111

ilikemy944

I used a brake bleeder kit that was $5 from AutoZone - its basically just a little plastic container and some hose. It sounds real basic but the hose goes from the bleeder nipple into the little container and all the way to the bottom where the end of the hose is submerged in brake fluid. Then you just have to mount the little container higher than the bleeder itself.

It took me less than 2 minutes to bleed the clutch with this.

ilikemy944

I just realized this was a week old.
I was bored :\