clutch hydraulics
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 393
Likes: 1
From: Houston TX
clutch hydraulics
I just replaced my clutch master and slave cylinders and tries to bleed the system. I say tried, because I'm not sure I did it right.
I had done some research on corvette forum and read the manual before proceeding but still had significant difficulty. First, a hint is that the clip that holds the clutch to the master cylinder pushrod slips off sideways. I found no reference to how to remove this but managed to figure it out.
The next real problem was bleeding the system. I rotated the slave cylinder so that the bleed screw was on top, and then tried to bleed it like a brake caliper. The problem was that the cylinder overextended and popped the actuator rod and associated bits out of the assembly. I see know way that this can be prevented unless the slave cylinder is mounted. Apparently I managed to get most of the air out as it works pretty well now but am less than confidant that I really got all the air out.
Am I the only one that has had this problem? Will bleeding it with a mity-vac type apparatus work?
Also, It seems like it should be possible to mount the slave cylinder upside down to ease this procedure. It seems like my car has plenty of line to do this but I haven't tried it yet as I needed my car to work when I put it down :)
Thanks!
Jason
I had done some research on corvette forum and read the manual before proceeding but still had significant difficulty. First, a hint is that the clip that holds the clutch to the master cylinder pushrod slips off sideways. I found no reference to how to remove this but managed to figure it out.
The next real problem was bleeding the system. I rotated the slave cylinder so that the bleed screw was on top, and then tried to bleed it like a brake caliper. The problem was that the cylinder overextended and popped the actuator rod and associated bits out of the assembly. I see know way that this can be prevented unless the slave cylinder is mounted. Apparently I managed to get most of the air out as it works pretty well now but am less than confidant that I really got all the air out.
Am I the only one that has had this problem? Will bleeding it with a mity-vac type apparatus work?
Also, It seems like it should be possible to mount the slave cylinder upside down to ease this procedure. It seems like my car has plenty of line to do this but I haven't tried it yet as I needed my car to work when I put it down :)
Thanks!
Jason
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,521
Likes: 0
From: West Islip New York
Re: clutch hydraulics (jsaunde2)
Had the same problems as you.
Only know two ways to do this, both messy.
1. Fill the slave cylinder on the bench, bring under car with the line fitting pointing up.
2. Have someone on the top start filling the master cylinder with fliud as you hold the line to keep fluid from escaping.
3. When the cylinder is full, release the your finger from the line until you get a nice flow of fluid and quickly connect to slave cylinder.
or
1. Mount slave cylinder and bleed like brakes. As you discovered, unmounted that shaft flies right out of there. This is still messy because the bleeder (at least on my 89) ends up right against the transmission tunnel and sprays oil everywhere.
Good luck.....
Only know two ways to do this, both messy.
1. Fill the slave cylinder on the bench, bring under car with the line fitting pointing up.
2. Have someone on the top start filling the master cylinder with fliud as you hold the line to keep fluid from escaping.
3. When the cylinder is full, release the your finger from the line until you get a nice flow of fluid and quickly connect to slave cylinder.
or
1. Mount slave cylinder and bleed like brakes. As you discovered, unmounted that shaft flies right out of there. This is still messy because the bleeder (at least on my 89) ends up right against the transmission tunnel and sprays oil everywhere.
Good luck.....
