Was about to suggest this. Couldn’t get mine to bleed for toffee. Drove me mad. Phil advised me to do this and it was done in 10Some of the slaves have circlip retainers so they don’t pop out. Check first
Bleeding clutch!
- Thread starter TheMegaMan
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TheMegaMan
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I guess I'd not appreciated quite what this was showing. I don't have either of these - the bleed valve is directly into the back of my slave cylinder.
I assume these arrangements allow the clutch to be bled from the cab, whereas I'm reaching around by the exhaust in the engine bay. Easy when the wings are off, but I agree it might get more difficult and will need to do from under vehicle when the bodywork is on again.
So am I making things difficult for myself by trying to bleed an incomplete system?
TheMegaMan
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It's certainly very plausible that I've got a bubble stuck in the slave cylinder that isn't shifting, and getting the piston fully pressed in will help to push it out.
I've got some good ideas here, now, so plenty to try over the weekend. And a couple of new bleeding tools to try out, too. Would be ironic if gravity bleeding is sufficient once I get the piston fully retracted!
honestly, give this a whirl first but as Mentioned, be sure you’ve got a slave with Circlip and also be gentle when you pull it out after unbolting
TheMegaMan
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Yeah, I will.
Cheers!
TheMegaMan
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...or the gearbox. Looking at the angle of the bend in the pipe, I was thinking it doubled back along the side of the bell housing and attached to the gearbox somewhere, but I was wondering exactly where that bracket would fit.
TheMegaMan
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After over a month, I'm finally getting back to working on the Landy again...and trying to sort out the clutch!
So took the slave cylinder off today, and the piston could be moved back about an inch or so, so certainly possible there was a big bubble stuck in there that wasn't getting flushed out. Not quite sure when I'll next get a chance to try and bleed it again (vacuum,, so I don't move the piston out again), but hopefully I'll have more luck when I do.
Also fitted the banjo and angled adapter, so I can now bleed the clutch from the interior side of the bulkhead...might be easier than having to do it from the engine bay.
One thing that's nagging in the back of my mind, is that the clutch assembly isn't right, for some reason. The actuating rod is poking around 5mm out from the bell housing where the slave cylinder bolts on. Does that sound about right? It can be pulled back out around another 20mm, and it feels like the fork is sliding over the gearbox input shaft as expected, so I *think* it's all together correctly. I can't manually push the rod into the bell housing, but I assume that's expected given the strength of the clutch plate springs.
So took the slave cylinder off today, and the piston could be moved back about an inch or so, so certainly possible there was a big bubble stuck in there that wasn't getting flushed out. Not quite sure when I'll next get a chance to try and bleed it again (vacuum,, so I don't move the piston out again), but hopefully I'll have more luck when I do.
Also fitted the banjo and angled adapter, so I can now bleed the clutch from the interior side of the bulkhead...might be easier than having to do it from the engine bay.
One thing that's nagging in the back of my mind, is that the clutch assembly isn't right, for some reason. The actuating rod is poking around 5mm out from the bell housing where the slave cylinder bolts on. Does that sound about right? It can be pulled back out around another 20mm, and it feels like the fork is sliding over the gearbox input shaft as expected, so I *think* it's all together correctly. I can't manually push the rod into the bell housing, but I assume that's expected given the strength of the clutch plate springs.
Have some information I recorded awhile back in my Manual that shows rod should protrude from clutch slave mounting flange 5/8" not sure if that was the pulled forward measurement.
Your 5mm seems a tad small detail also shows operating rod length.
Anyone know far does slave barrel protrude into bell housing?
Your 5mm seems a tad small detail also shows operating rod length.
Anyone know far does slave barrel protrude into bell housing?
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TheMegaMan
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Thank you - that's good info...although not really what I wanted to hear! I had a horrible feeling that something might not be quite right inside the bell housing. I'm not expecting the slave piston to need to move much, but the cylinder doesn't protrude much beyond the mounting flange, so I'm not going to get a lot of movement on the rod before the piston runs out of travel.
Oh well. I'll give it one last go to get to bleed it with the piston fully back, and if it's still not disengaging, I guess I'll need to take the gearbox out again...
TheMegaMan
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I think I might be there, at last!
The bleeding process was a lot easier using one of the hand vacuum pumps and being able to easily get to the nipple from the interior. But while it felt better than before, it still didn't appear to be disengaging the clutch - just running out of pedal travel. So I adjusted the rod on the master cylinder, and voila, managed to get it to work. The first 3-4 inches of pedal travel doesn't do anything useful, but it does now disengage when almost on the floor. Is this how most are? It's been so long since I last drove it, I really can't remember.
I've lost my '1.5mm slack' between the rod and the master cylinder piston, so I'm a bit worried that the master piston won't drop back to it's proper rest position (might be a problem if any fluid leaks past the seals), but I can probably adjust the pedal rest position to get that back closer to what the book says.
It could well be down to something not quite right in the clutch mechanism and the rod not protruding from the slave flange far enough, but I think it's good enough to get me mobile now, and I can tweak and fiddle some more once I'm driving it again.
Next stop...brakes!
The bleeding process was a lot easier using one of the hand vacuum pumps and being able to easily get to the nipple from the interior. But while it felt better than before, it still didn't appear to be disengaging the clutch - just running out of pedal travel. So I adjusted the rod on the master cylinder, and voila, managed to get it to work. The first 3-4 inches of pedal travel doesn't do anything useful, but it does now disengage when almost on the floor. Is this how most are? It's been so long since I last drove it, I really can't remember.
I've lost my '1.5mm slack' between the rod and the master cylinder piston, so I'm a bit worried that the master piston won't drop back to it's proper rest position (might be a problem if any fluid leaks past the seals), but I can probably adjust the pedal rest position to get that back closer to what the book says.
It could well be down to something not quite right in the clutch mechanism and the rod not protruding from the slave flange far enough, but I think it's good enough to get me mobile now, and I can tweak and fiddle some more once I'm driving it again.
Next stop...brakes!
nickjaxe
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Do you know its possible to mount the slave upside down...the bleed nipple needs to be highest.
TheMegaMan
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Yup, got that. I've always had it the correct way up. That's not been the problem.
I think the crux of my issues have been that the piston wasn't getting pushed far enough back, so there was a bubble in the cylinder that couldn't escape. The bleed nipple is slightly below the majority of the cylinder due to its mounting angle, even when the nipple is uppermost. Maybe in future, I'll park it nose-up on a steep hill to get around that. Not so easy to do when it's on my driveway and not yet mobile.
I think the crux of my issues have been that the piston wasn't getting pushed far enough back, so there was a bubble in the cylinder that couldn't escape. The bleed nipple is slightly below the majority of the cylinder due to its mounting angle, even when the nipple is uppermost. Maybe in future, I'll park it nose-up on a steep hill to get around that. Not so easy to do when it's on my driveway and not yet mobile.
