Clutch Bleeding Problems
Discussion
Posted this on MX5Nutz earlier but thought I'd stick it here in case anyone has any bright ideas...
Currently having a few issues bleeding up my clutch after changing the slave cylinder so thought I would open it up to the masses and get some advice (hopefully!).
I'll start from the beginning...
Driving home on Sunday I pull up to a roundabout, put the clutch down, and immediately know something is wrong. 90% of the clutch travel is completely dead with just a tiny bit left at the end and a bite point that starts about 1mm off the floor. It didn't stop me engaging any gears but something definitely isn't right. I wasn't far from home and it was mostly motorway so elected to keep going rather than stop and risk not getting going again.
Make it home, park up, bonnet up and the clutch master cylinder reservoir looks, basically, bone dry. Oh dear. A quick poke around the slave cylinder and there seems to be a decent amount of fluid in the rubber housing so suspect that's the cause. Couldn't do anything about it that night, didn't even have any fluid to top the reservoir up with, so left it parked up until I could sort parts...
Fast forward to last night, new slave cylinder in hand, along with Vizibleed kit, fluid etc.
I went to move the car so that it was easier to work on but this time the clutch was completely dead. Couldn't engage first at all and starting in gear with the clutch down just stalled the car. Bugger. Push it around a bit, jack it up, wheel off and get started.
Slave came off fairly easily, with a small amount of fluid coming through the pipe when I undid it from the slave itself. Refitting was also pretty simple.
Topped up the reservoir, bleed kit on, bleed nipple undone, start gently pumping the pedal but I'm not getting any fluid coming through the slave at all. Pedal feels completely dead with literally no resistance, can push it very easily with my hand. Tried various things for about 40 minutes before running out of light and calling it a day. Only thing I did note was that the fluid in the master cylinder had quickly turned a bit murky, indicating that there must have been some movement in the fluid but that's about it.
Having thought about it a bit more this morning, I'm assuming the line has run completely dry and is now struggling to get any fluid through.
I did a bit of reading with people suggesting doing a gravity bleed to fill the pipes up (I just undo the bleed nipple and leave it for two hours?) or getting expensive vacuum bleeders but I'm thinking there must be a simpler way of solving this? I appreciate it could be a knackered master cylinder but keen to avoid spending more cash if it's actually just me being an idiot....
Any advice gratefully received and sorry for the length of post!
Currently having a few issues bleeding up my clutch after changing the slave cylinder so thought I would open it up to the masses and get some advice (hopefully!).
I'll start from the beginning...
Driving home on Sunday I pull up to a roundabout, put the clutch down, and immediately know something is wrong. 90% of the clutch travel is completely dead with just a tiny bit left at the end and a bite point that starts about 1mm off the floor. It didn't stop me engaging any gears but something definitely isn't right. I wasn't far from home and it was mostly motorway so elected to keep going rather than stop and risk not getting going again.
Make it home, park up, bonnet up and the clutch master cylinder reservoir looks, basically, bone dry. Oh dear. A quick poke around the slave cylinder and there seems to be a decent amount of fluid in the rubber housing so suspect that's the cause. Couldn't do anything about it that night, didn't even have any fluid to top the reservoir up with, so left it parked up until I could sort parts...
Fast forward to last night, new slave cylinder in hand, along with Vizibleed kit, fluid etc.
I went to move the car so that it was easier to work on but this time the clutch was completely dead. Couldn't engage first at all and starting in gear with the clutch down just stalled the car. Bugger. Push it around a bit, jack it up, wheel off and get started.
Slave came off fairly easily, with a small amount of fluid coming through the pipe when I undid it from the slave itself. Refitting was also pretty simple.
Topped up the reservoir, bleed kit on, bleed nipple undone, start gently pumping the pedal but I'm not getting any fluid coming through the slave at all. Pedal feels completely dead with literally no resistance, can push it very easily with my hand. Tried various things for about 40 minutes before running out of light and calling it a day. Only thing I did note was that the fluid in the master cylinder had quickly turned a bit murky, indicating that there must have been some movement in the fluid but that's about it.
Having thought about it a bit more this morning, I'm assuming the line has run completely dry and is now struggling to get any fluid through.
I did a bit of reading with people suggesting doing a gravity bleed to fill the pipes up (I just undo the bleed nipple and leave it for two hours?) or getting expensive vacuum bleeders but I'm thinking there must be a simpler way of solving this? I appreciate it could be a knackered master cylinder but keen to avoid spending more cash if it's actually just me being an idiot....
Any advice gratefully received and sorry for the length of post!
Just as a follow up in case anyone stumbles across this on Google, I eventually got the clutch bled up OK but I couldn't do it with a one man kit.
Had to get a willing volunteer and spent quite a bit of time doing the up/down method before fluid got to the slave. Be patient and don't let the master run dry while you're doing it or you'll have to start again!
Had to get a willing volunteer and spent quite a bit of time doing the up/down method before fluid got to the slave. Be patient and don't let the master run dry while you're doing it or you'll have to start again!
I did one at the weekend too, I had one of those kits with a clear tube with a one way valve in the end and as you said it was just pumping away not moving any fluid. In the end while messing about with it I left the bleed nipple well opened with no tube on it while scratching my head and noticed that after a few mins that fluid was coming out under gravity! So just nipped it up and that was that. Shrug.
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