Clutch Bleeding / Bleed

[spol-maidens]

I have a 2001 93 Aero Hot and while doing a clutch bleed this morning I caused more harm then good.

I used a Mitivac to vacuum out the hydraulic fluid from the slave cylinder just on top of the gearbox and noticed a huge amount of fluid coming through. Great! I thought...

On depressing the clutch pedel there was absolutely NO compression whatsoever and the pedel ended up staying depressed. I lifted the clutch pedel back up and tried vacuuming more and more fluid out but ended up digging myself a bigger hole.

I spent ages seeking advice and eventually found a method that worked 100%!

Using a oil can filler that you can buy for about a fiver from most moto stores - I reverse bled the system by filling the 'oil' can with brake/clutch fluid and pumped this through from the slave toward to the brake/clutch reservoir.

Worked brilliantly and first time! Had I known - I wouldn't have bothered with the Mitivac.

Just for you info. Good luck!

[earthworm]

Interesting, but what is an "oil can filler" ??

[spol-maidens]

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...HAUsswLjR9lyh5

Has that worked??

[john bernard]

Could you provide more detail about exactly what you did and how you did it?

[spol-maidens]

Use one of these and a about a foot of washer hose connected to the bleed nipple at the top of the gearbox.

Fill the new canister with new brake fluid and pump fluid through from the can to the tip of the washer hose before connecting it (otherwise you'll just pump more air into the system)

Connect her up, open the bleed nipple and pump away! Make sure to keep the reservoir open to allow air to escape

[busaboy]

Originally Posted by spol-maidens

I have a 2001 93 Aero Hot and while doing a clutch bleed this morning I caused more harm then good.

I used a Mitivac to vacuum out the hydraulic fluid from the slave cylinder just on top of the gearbox and noticed a huge amount of fluid coming through. Great! I thought...

On depressing the clutch pedel there was absolutely NO compression whatsoever and the pedel ended up staying depressed. I lifted the clutch pedel back up and tried vacuuming more and more fluid out but ended up digging myself a bigger hole.

I spent ages seeking advice and eventually found a method that worked 100%!

Using a oil can filler that you can buy for about a fiver from most moto stores - I reverse bled the system by filling the 'oil' can with brake/clutch fluid and pumped this through from the slave toward to the brake/clutch reservoir.

Worked brilliantly and first time! Had I known - I wouldn't have bothered with the Mitivac.

Just for you info. Good luck!

The factory procedure for the slave is, I believe, reverse-bleeding.

[fiveiron9688]

Originally Posted by spol-maidens

Use one of these and a about a foot of washer hose connected to the bleed nipple at the top of the gearbox.

Fill the new canister with new brake fluid and pump fluid through from the can to the tip of the washer hose before connecting it (otherwise you'll just pump more air into the system)

Connect her up, open the bleed nipple and pump away! Make sure to keep the reservoir open to allow air to escape

Couldn't you still use the Mitivac or Motive pressure bleeder to do the same thing? Just hook it up at the top of the gearbox instead of the reservoir?

[Jeremy R.]

Mitivacs can't push fluid like that. Believe me, I tried when I was bleeding my own clutch. They did make a nice reverse bleeder called the Hydraulic Injection Shooter, but it's been discontinued. The Shooter was essentially a Motive-type bleeder, but with a trigger and a bunch of brake and clutch line adapters. If you could rig up a trigger to a Motive bleeder, I bet it would work great.

[fiveiron9688]

Hmm. The problem is, I just finished a brake job, so I figured I would bleed the clutch as long as I was doing the brakes. So after I did the four brakes, I used the Motive for the clutch, hooked up to the brake reservoir just like the brakes. I didn't think I would run into issues since the slave was fine/untouched.

[Jeremy R.]

That's the same problem I had. I've tried to bleed the clutch twice using a Motive bleeder and didn't have any luck either time. I found a Mityvac Shooter, which worked amazingly well, and that's what got me thinking that a Motive bleeder could work as a reverse bleeder if you had a trigger on it so you could control the flow.

[Cm452]

Because I live under a rock, these "motive" bleeders apply positive pressure to the master reservoir and then you bleed the lines out accordingly? Orrr, is it similar to what I've used on brakes, which is a vacuum pump with a nipple adapter and a catch can? I still have air in my system which makes the clutch change with the weather . I exhaustively tried to bleed it by opening the slave nipple, depressing clutch, closing nipple, raising clutch=nada. My next tactic is to depress clutch, release nipple, close nipple, then bring clutch back up to recharge system. Should this fail, I intend on getting one of those vacuum bleeders I mentioned earlier and trying an iteration of what I described above.
A little OT from the OP, but still, two birds, ya know
-Cm

[Jeremy R.]

Yep, the Motive bleeder applies pressure to the master cylinder. It looks like a garden sprayer, complete with the usual pump handle. They make a few different adapters, including a screw-on version that screws right onto a Saab's brake fluid reservoir. They're handy, but they can make a mess when you unscrew the adapter since they tend to fill the reservoir all the way up to the top, and sometimes it makes the fluid overflow. I sold mine and got a Mityvac, since the Motive's kind of a one-trick pony.

[fiveiron9688]

I wonder if something as simple as a valve would work for reverse bleeding with a Motive. I assume you want to control the flow just to prevent a huge overflow from the reservoir, right?

I did one more attempt with the Motive hooked up to the reservoir. It was enough to at least get the car to be able to go into reverse without turning it off. Now I've got the pedal depressed about 3/4 of the way with a block of wood and the reservoir cap loosened, hopefully that'll do the trick.

Had the opportunity to buy one of the things that the OP posted...but I wasn't sure if it was the right kind, it just seemed too small, and I was afraid it would push air into the system also. Probably should have tried it anyways, it was only like 7 bucks.

[Jeremy R.]

Originally Posted by fiveiron9688

I wonder if something as simple as a valve would work for reverse bleeding with a Motive. I assume you want to control the flow just to prevent a huge overflow from the reservoir, right?

Pretty much. You just want to pump enough fluid into the system so that you see bubbles coming up in the reservoir and the pedal firms up. It barely took any fluid at all to do mine.

The block of wood trick worked for me both times I used the Motive bleeder. After the second time, the master cylinder started squeaking, but still worked fine. I don't know if it was related or not.

[lms]

Originally Posted by fiveiron9688

I wonder if something as simple as a valve would work for reverse bleeding with a Motive. I assume you want to control the flow just to prevent a huge overflow from the reservoir, right?

I did one more attempt with the Motive hooked up to the reservoir. It was enough to at least get the car to be able to go into reverse without turning it off. Now I've got the pedal depressed about 3/4 of the way with a block of wood and the reservoir cap loosened, hopefully that'll do the trick.

Had the opportunity to buy one of the things that the OP posted...but I wasn't sure if it was the right kind, it just seemed too small, and I was afraid it would push air into the system also. Probably should have tried it anyways, it was only like 7 bucks.

Yes, it is very simple to make a fillting on the motive that will be able to attach to the nipple on the slave. I made one with simple parts from HD ad I'm still able to remove it and attach the the org piece so I can use the motive to bleed the brakes.