I am having a problem with my Hydraulic Clutch. It seems to be going through alot of fluid the past few months. About 3 months ago I filled up the bone dry resevoir when I started to notice my clutch pedel loss of pressure...today I noticed the same thing again but worse and my gears were grinding so I popped the hood to find...yeah bone dry again. I filled it up but I am still haveing the grinding and when I finally get it in gear with the pedal depressed it slowly moves forward. I believe this to be air in the line. Now, how do I bleed the system? I have a richmond 6 speed if that helps any. I dont know who made the hydraulics but it looks like a regular set up.

 

Uh, Still need help

 

Deleted PICS

 

I'm not familiar with the hydralics on an 85, or on a richmond 6 speed, but if it is like the hydraulics on an 89+ you have to turn the slave cylinder upside down to get all the air out. The bleeder is on the bottom, so flipping it over allows the air to rise to the bleeder.

My guess is that your slave cylinder is leaking, that's probably where the fluid is going. Is the slave external, or is it inside the bell housing?

 

??HUH?? Where would the slave cylinder be? While I am at it...my vette is undriveable right now until this gets fixed. It will not go in OR out of gear unless I put some serious muscle behind it. If I keep it in gear WITH THE CLUTCH PUSHED ALL THE WAY IN it starts going. I really need help guys, this is my daily driver and its in great shape...basically this is the only problem and its a big one but I feel an easy fix. HELP PLEASE!!

 

Sounds like you're going to need to bleed the air out of the hydraulic clutch system. For the purposes of this discussion I’m assuming that you have a stock hydraulic clutch system.

From the clutch master cylinder (where you have been checking and pouring the fluid in) find the hydraulic line that connects to it and then trace that line down the firewall to another cylinder that is mounted near the bottom of the engine bell housing on the driver’s side. There will be an air bleed screw located on that lower cylinder. Now follow the directions below for bleeding the air out of the system. It’s a PITA no doubt but if you don’t get the air out the clutch won’t work right if at all.

======================================== ============

I took mine off to bleed it but I also pushed the slave piston all the way to the back of the cylinder (watch the fluid level in the master cylinder as it will overflow).

After I pushed the cylinder all the way back, I blocked it in that position with a short piece of 2x2 that I had previously drilled two ¼ inch holes completely through at 2-3/4 inches on center. I had also drilled a third hole exactly between the first two holes only about a ¼ inch deep as a place to hold the piston rod. I used two ¼ inch by 2 -1/2 inch screws and nuts to hold the block of wood to the slave (don’t torque the nuts, just us enough pressure to bottom the piston in the back of the cylinder). This effectively held the piston in the back of the cylinder. This method keeps the slave cylinder volume at a minimum which creates less possibility of trapped air remaining in the cylinder after your done bleeding.

At this point I pointed the slave upward with the bleed screw at the top, attached a clear piece of tubing to the bleed screw so I could watch for air bubbles and put the other end of the tube in an empty Corona bottle. From there you bleed it like a set of brakes. While the peddle is traveling down open the screw. When the peddle hits bottom, close the screw, peddle up, repeat. Watch the level of fluid in the master cylinder as it’s only good for about three or four cycles then your sucking air.

When you’re satisfied that the air is out of the system, remove the block of wood from the slave slowly. You need to loosen the nuts a little and then add fluid to the master, loosen the nuts some more and then add more fluid. If you aren’t careful about this you will suck air into your perfectly bled system.

Next time I do this I will make my little 2x2 jig out of metal as the slave piston eventually split it like a wood splitter. Fortunately, I was done bleeding when this happened.

Hope this helps.

Chris

 

I dont fully understand...I am more of a pic by pic kinda guy. I know thats not going to happen and that is asking way too much. Ok, so I have to take off this cylinder? I know exactly where you are talking about as I have been bleeding it a few mins ago and it did not work. Still having the same problems but worse so I guess I let more air into the system. Anyway, I take the cylinder off with the hydraulic line still attached and then push the piston in? If I dont have these kinda tools how am I supposed to keep the piston down, would a C-Clamp work?

 

Here are two pics of it.

 

After reading your post again for about the 5th time Grace91, I think I got it. Only problem is its getting late, I dont have the wood or bolts, and my wife is preg so its hard for her to get in and out of the vette so I dont get but a few shots at this. I will have to improvise for sure, I just dont know how I am going to do this yet. If nothing else I am going to take it in to the shop. I would rather save myself 50-100 bucks and do it but if I cant get it I cant get it. Thanks and I will let you know what happens in the next two hours.

 

I blead the system and it STILL dont work...now what? The only thing I can think of is I did not have a big enough clamp which resulted in the piston only getting pushed in half way so if there were still air in the system it would require me to buy a larger Clamp and doing this all over again. Honestly its not that hard with a Clamp...I would say start to finish with a buddy pumping the pedal you could get done in about 45 mins easy.

This is with the C-CLamp on as far as I could push it in.

This is AFTER the clamp is removed and the system was blead.

 

I just replaced the entire hyd system on my 92 coupe. I was also loosing fluid - 100,000 miles on car - when I removed the driver's side panel under the dash to remove the retaining clip on the clutch pedal I saw the inside of the car, under the dash was soaked with hydraulic fluid from the clutch master cylinder. The fluid had leaked from the rear of the master cylinder around the rod that attaches to the clutch pedal. Obviously the seal had worn out. Thank god it doesn't stink. The foam rubber inside of the car on the firewall under the defective seal was soaked with fluid. What a mess - I threw away a bunch of foam rubber - but, again, it doesn't stink. Check your seal.

 

Don't use a clamp, you'll nick up the cylinder surface. Judging by the angle of the clamp in the pic, it's toast. I hope I'm wrong and it fit inside the slave piston cup.

I just pushed it in by hand with my thumb.

If bleeding it doesn't get you your shifting back, then it's because you've damaged the synchros (and possibly the engagement teeth on the gears)

Bleed it with it off the car, and the slave piston fully extended. Then force the piston slowly in to put the fluid back in the master. Then bleed again to be safe.

 

My C-Clamp did not have the flat head on it, that broke off a long time ago so I only had the ball end which I made sure was inside the cup. I am going to try this again and hopefully this is the problem and not the seal.

 

I am going to try this job again but this time I am getting a larger C-Clamp and of course knocking off the cap so I wont damage the cylinder and I am going to let ALL of the fluid out and start fresh. This way I know when the fluid hits the cyclinder and therefore know approx when I am almost done bleading. Hopefully this time it will work...if not (sigh) to the shop.

 

You don't need a c-clamp.

Check the inside of the cylinder bore for gouges. The way your clamp is on there at an angle, even inside the piston cup, it's jamming the piston against the side of the cylinder, that's why it won't screw in further.

 

Right, I figured that and when I redo the job I will be checking that out and if all is well then I am going to use a larger C-Clamp one that will fit propperly so I can do the job right. If not, I will be running to AZone to find a new one.

 

I always bleed using a little air pressure at the fluid vessel. I use an old cap, make a small pipe through it and connect that to an old fridge compressor. DO connect an air leak nipple as well to adjust the pressure, You only need a few hundred mBar and the fridge compressor can make MUCH more.
Now you don´t have to push the pedal anymore wich always gives you the chance to suck air in if released to rapid. Believe me, you can bleed systems that seem impossible an other way in no time, and you can do it allone. It may be a solution. If you don.t have an old fridge compressor, use the old innertyre that the kids use to play in the pool.

 

Great idea! I think thats more of a next time idea for me. I would make a special rigging just for that as it seems that this may happen to me every 6 months or so unless I religiously check the oil.

 

Let me know how it goes...I think we waved at each other coming on post a couple of days ago. It's not like I have a lot of free time either with a two year old at home...but if I can help shoot me a PM!

Joe

 

Yeah, I think I remember, you have a black vette. Yeah, I got 3 kids with another on the way. I think I can handle the job though. Not to get too far off topic but do they have any clubs around here for us vette owners?