13 replies to this topic

[Ludeless]

I'm at a point on my manual swap where i think it might be good to bleed the clutch slave clyinder and brakes. Never bled a clutch before, so wanna know if there's a method that works best for this.

When bleeding my brakes, i use one of those brake bleeder systems where you pressureize the brake fluide resevoir to ~15 psi, then open the bleed screws on the calipers until the bubbles stop coming out. Now that i have the clutch in my system, is the procedure the same? Should i bleed the clutch cylinder first or after the brakes...or does it matter?

Do i need to press in the clutch pedal at all while doing this, or should i just pressureize the system through the fluid resevoir the same way i do when bleeding brakes?

Finally, I'm assuming i should just stick with the normal brake fluid right...dont' need to get anything special now that it's also supplying the clutch cylinder do i?

Thanks!

[Быстров]

I'm at a point on my manual swap where i think it might be good to bleed the clutch slave clyinder and brakes. Never bled a clutch before, so wanna know if there's a method that works best for this.

When bleeding my brakes, i use one of those brake bleeder systems where you pressureize the brake fluide resevoir to ~15 psi, then open the bleed screws on the calipers until the bubbles stop coming out. Now that i have the clutch in my system, is the procedure the same? Should i bleed the clutch cylinder first or after the brakes...or does it matter?

Do i need to press in the clutch pedal at all while doing this, or should i just pressureize the system through the fluid resevoir the same way i do when bleeding brakes?

Finally, I'm assuming i should just stick with the normal brake fluid right...dont' need to get anything special now that it's also supplying the clutch cylinder do i?

Thanks!

yea man just like brakes, pump the clutch, at one point its going to be very little then you will see it will start building up pressure. make sure even when you bleed it and there is still verry little pressure on the pedal you still hold it down, other wise you will suck in air again! its easier to do with two people, but if you cant, get a stick and press it against the seat and the pedal when you bleed it, its going ot take time but you will get it done. Have fun

[B Mac]

I found it was damn near impossible to bleed a clutch using gravity and the pump-open-close method. Just get a brake bleeder. Mine hooks up to an air compressor or tire. Fill the small reservoir, hook up air, open bleed valve....wait for air bubbles to go away, done. You can have your whole system bled in 10 minutes if you take your time doing it that way

[DonutsDemise]

when I bled my clutch I had a helper press the clutch pedal while I opened and closed the bleeder valve until the clutch felt how I wanted it to feel. the power bleeder wasn't strong enough.

[Chilled Man]

For a interal Slave clutch pump the shit out fo the pedal

Bleed it alittle

Pump the hell out of the pedal again.

About 20min later your ready to go

[dooby]

When bleeding my brakes, i use one of those brake bleeder systems where you pressureize the brake fluide resevoir to ~15 psi, then open the bleed screws on the calipers until the bubbles stop coming out. Now that i have the clutch in my system, is the procedure the same? Should i bleed the clutch cylinder first or after the brakes...or does it matter?

That's what I did. I didn't touch the brake system so I guess technically bled the clutch 'last'. I don't think it matters unless the current fluid in the system is nasty in which case I'd probably do the brakes then the clutch.

Do i need to press in the clutch pedal at all while doing this, or should i just pressureize the system through the fluid resevoir the same way i do when bleeding brakes?

I just used pressure, but I did have to ensure the reservoir was full to the brim, as I believe the pipe in the reservoir leading to the clutch system takes fluid right at the top.

Finally, I'm assuming i should just stick with the normal brake fluid right...dont' need to get anything special now that it's also supplying the clutch cylinder do i?

I'd already changed to DOT5.1 and stuck with the same for the clutch. If you're still on DOT4 that would be fine also I believe.

Cheers, Pete

[AverageVolvo]

I used a mighty vac, HAndheld vaccum bleeder, from sears cost 30$. took 1 minute,

You bleed from the clutch slave cylinder(obviously)

I suggest a dot 5. Super ate is grea aka (smurfs blood)

If you want to make it really cool, use a motorcycle brake fluid resivour, and isolate the brake fluid so that clutch and brakes are using seperate hydraulics containers.. This way if one systems leaks, you have seperate control of the other, Also helps keep tempereature down which is great for performance.. I bled both clutch and calipers, in less than 10 minutes.

I can take a picture if needed.(lazy at the moment.

If you have other manual swap questions, Please feel free to pm me, I have done several of these myself , and assisted in a few more.

Ryan

[AverageVolvo]

Lol OH yeah( I cant edit forgot to pay my member dues again)

If you stick with the stock brake container, make sure its full as mentioned above.

YOu can buy a motorcycle brake container for 10$ on ebay , all you need then is the stock clutch line(rubber one)
and an adapter to a slightly larger hose(motorcycle end is slightly larger)

Cost me 12$ total

[Ludeless]

used the pressure bleeder...pumped it up to ~20 psi, bled the clutch, pressed the pedal in and it did the trick first time. It did fill up the resevoir to the top but i used a baster and took some out so it was to the max line...guess i'll add some more back in.

I think i may have only used dot 3 fluid...some prestone stuff. Think it's worthwhile to try to drain and refill it all, or don't worry about it?

[AverageVolvo]

used the pressure bleeder...pumped it up to ~20 psi, bled the clutch, pressed the pedal in and it did the trick first time. It did fill up the resevoir to the top but i used a baster and took some out so it was to the max line...guess i'll add some more back in.

I think i may have only used dot 3 fluid...some prestone stuff. Think it's worthwhile to try to drain and refill it all, or don't worry about it?

ABSOLUTELY REFILL WITH DOT 4 or HIGHER, Oem spec calls for dot 4, Your brakes and clutch may not function at higher temperatures.

Its cheap like 10 for dot 4 large bottle, And you said it was easy.
: )

[Ludeless]

ABSOLUTELY REFILL WITH DOT 4 or HIGHER, Oem spec calls for dot 4, Your brakes and clutch may not function at higher temperatures.

Its cheap like 10 for dot 4 large bottle, And you said it was easy.
: )

...I was afraid of that... so what's the best way to drain the system, should i pressurize the system w/ the power bleeder then open the bleed screws on the clutch and brakes until no fluid comes out? Do i need to do anything to drain out the master cylinder?

I assume it's better to drain it all out then put fresh fluid in rather than just trying to pump fresh fluid in to flush out the dot3 stuff? Any idea of how much fluid i'll need to do the whole thing?

[B1mmer]

Only use DOT 4. DOT 5 is silicone based and will not mix at all with DOT 4, thus you will need to completely flush out all of the existing stuff (which will be difficult with used parts). Also, the clutch fluid to a slave cylinder barely gets warm with track use, unless it's a shared master cylinder with the brakes, thus the thought of boiling the fluid is a non-issue. - AB

[jdlc]

I have external slave cyl (& single mass flywheel ftw) based on my VIN.

Where do you access the cylinder bleeder? Under the car or somehere under the air box? Any pix what it looks like?

If I'm to bleed the brakes, which based on previous experience with our AT V70 use about a qt of fluid, how much more is needed if clutch will be done as well?

MOTIV bleeder any good for this job? - heard it's good for the brake, will work with clutch too?

Thnx.

[Ludeless]

I have external slave cyl (& single mass flywheel ftw) based on my VIN.

Where do you access the cylinder bleeder? Under the car or somehere under the air box? Any pix what it looks like?

If I'm to bleed the brakes, which based on previous experience with our AT V70 use about a qt of fluid, how much more is needed if clutch will be done as well?

MOTIV bleeder any good for this job? - heard it's good for the brake, will work with clutch too?

Thnx.

Clutch cylinder bleeder is on the top of the cylinder, which is attached to the front of the trans. (close to being underneath the throttle body i think..although i haven't put mine back on yet).

I used the power bleeder same as the brakes to bleed the clutch...worked great. I'm not sure how much extra fluid is needed for the clutch system, probably not a full quart. I probalby added a 1/2 quart of fluid by using the power bleeder, but a lot of that went right through and to my catch tray as i wanted to flush out my clutch line a little, since the first fluid coming out of it seemed discolored and dark.

Although i used the wrong fluid, so looks like i'm draining the entire thing again tonight and starting from scratch...DOH!