How long am I supposed to bleed my clutch for? This is taking forever.

[Ns1]

So my clutch pedal drops straight to the floor. I know there's a leak in the system but I'd like to at least get it running to get some things handled before replacing the master/slave.

So I bought one of those bleeders on Amazon which is basically just a valve to prevent air from being sucked back in. I took the bleeder, hooked it up to the bleed nipple on the slave cylinder and the other end into a reservoir. Then I opened the bleed valve, filled up the reservoir, and started pumping away.

After 5-10 minutes fluid started dripping into the reservoir. I don't see a lot of bubbles in the hose. How long am I supposed to do this for? I just keep pumping until I regain pressure and then close the bleed valve, right?

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

1. Check level of fluid in master cylinder. Fill if necessary.
2. place bleed hose over bleed valve nipple. Make sure to have the hose go UP from the bleed hose to allow bubbles to travel UP and away from the nipple.
3. SLOWLY press down on the clutch pedal until it reaches the floor. Hold it there.
4. Open the bleed valve until fluid stops moving.
5. Close the bleed valve.
6. SLOWLY release the clutch pedal.
7. Check fluid level in Master Cylinder. Fill if necessary.
8. Repeat steps 3-7 until no bubbles are travelling away from the bleed valve and the pedal is stiff.

-Sometimes it works better to have two people and have your assistant push on the pedal SLOWLY (as in 4-5 seconds until on the floor) and at the same time you release the bleed valve and close it before the assistant reaches the bottom of clutch pedal travel.

The reason to push slowly is to avoid the creation of tiny bubbles in the break fluid. For a good example take a small portion of brake fluid in a clear container and shake it up - you will see that a bunch of tiny bubble are created. This is what happens when you push too quickly and there is air in the line - the big bubbles can become little bubbles. These little bubbles move much more slowly than the big ones and are harder to bleed out. Therefore, by pushing slowly you are keeping the bubbles bigger and easier to bleed.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Sounds like he has a speed bleeder so that should make it easy. I've never used one on my clutch but they work great for brakes. Are you getting any fluid out? Could just be your master is completely dead.

Anyway you don't need working clutch hydraulics to drive the car. You just have to use the starter to get the car moving, rev match your shifts, and turn the engine off when you are coming to a stop. You look like an ass doing it but if you need to get somewhere it works.

 

[exdeath]

If you ran the master dry you'll need to bench bleed the master otherwise you'll just keep pushing bubbles back and forth and not do anything.

 

[Ns1]

1. Check level of fluid in master cylinder. Fill if necessary.
2. place bleed hose over bleed valve nipple. Make sure to have the hose go UP from the bleed hose to allow bubbles to travel UP and away from the nipple.
3. SLOWLY press down on the clutch pedal until it reaches the floor. Hold it there.
4. Open the bleed valve until fluid stops moving.
5. Close the bleed valve.
6. SLOWLY release the clutch pedal.
7. Check fluid level in Master Cylinder. Fill if necessary.
8. Repeat steps 3-7 until no bubbles are travelling away from the bleed valve and the pedal is stiff.

Do I really need to open/close after every single pedal press if I have one of these? I have absolutely zero pressure on the clutch.

I think you are opening up the bleeder screw too much. You only need to do it enough to maintain some pressure, and for fluid to flow.

Can I really open the bleeder screw too much?

 

[Xecuter]

Get a MityVac, don't look back. It makes bleeding brakes/clutch effortless.

 

[JCH13]

If you ran the master dry you'll need to bench bleed the master otherwise you'll just keep pushing bubbles back and forth and not do anything.

This.

 

[Ns1]

Get a MityVac, don't look back. It makes bleeding brakes/clutch effortless.

I don't work on cars enough to justify this.

This.

Damnit. I have no idea how to bench bleed. Should I just replace my slave/master cylinder now before I do this crap?

 

[JCH13]

It's really pretty easy, and if you installed a new cylinder you'd have to do a bench bleed anyway.

You could conceivably do it in the car, but it might get cramped.

 

[Ns1]

Okay I'm gonna try bleeding this one more time tonight and if it fails I'm gonna switch out the master/slave cylinders.

How long should I try bleeding the clutch for? 15 minutes? 45 minutes? People online say "forever" without saying how long forever is!

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

I bled my clutch yesterday - took about 10 minutes with the technique I posted. And yes you can open your bleed valve too much. You only need to open it enough so that fluid can escape - otherwise air can sneak in past the threads.