How to Bleed or Flush the Clutch

[h018871]

i've had a couple of folks ask how to use a Mityvac to flush the clutch hydraulic system, so i put this together when i flushed mine yesterday. it is fairly easy, just use LOTS of rags

this is not the only way to skin this cat, just the way i do it

EDIT: see post #7, for an exploded view of the master cylinder

[cornerspeed92]

Thanks man i appreciate it.

[tw78911sc]

I know when I bleed my clutch, I have to make sure the pedal is used, I'm no expert but you may only be getting the fluid above the slave cylinder. That crap way down in the clutch system is where the real nasty contaminates are. I have a Tick Speed bleeder, but I tired to pressure bleed mine and it would not work w/o the the pedal action.

[h018871]

Originally Posted by tw78911sc

I know when I bleed my clutch, I have to make sure the pedal is used, I'm no expert but you may only be getting the fluid above the slave cylinder. That crap way down in the clutch system is where the real nasty contaminates are. I have a Tick Speed bleeder, but I tired to pressure bleed mine and it would not work w/o the the pedal action.

i've never done the pressure bleed on the system, only vacuuming through the speed bleeder (does a flush). one time i sucked an air bubble into the line and then i had to pump the pedal to get it to not stick to the floor. took several pumps, but the pedal feel came back pretty quickly. then i vacuumed some more, but did not get any bubbles..............they must have gone back to the reservoir.


EDIT: something else.......one time i could not get the fluid to move. the pedal was depressed and the fluid would not move from the reservoir to the slave. the cup must have been across a port or something (not real familiar with the master cylinder layout). this happened during a clutch change.

[jiacsovve]

the pedal was depressed and the fluid would not move from the reservoir to the slave

[h018871]

this is what i looked like after 2 track days
with the new clutch, it needs flushing often

[h018871]

i've got almost 80k miles on the car and the past 2 times i flushed the clutch, the fluid would not move under vacuum. i had to bleed in the normal fashion..........depress the pedal, open the bleeder port, close the port, pull the pedal up: repeat

i got a new clutch master cylinder and installed it over the weekend. i disassembled the old one and it had quite a lot of "dirt" (clutch dust i assume) packed in the chamber and around the cup. i flush the clutch regularly, but must admit that it has gotten real dirty on more than one occasion.

the port in the cylinder to the reservoir is very small and apparently can get clogged with debris. the pics are after i cleaned things up to see how it worked. notice that the main port (to the slave) is much bigger and would be difficult to clog
moral of the story, don't let it get too bad too often or the master cylinder may gum up

[GVA 45TH 2SS]

Thanks for the post I have the same setup, been waiting to bleed the system.