Help, my clutch won't bleed!
 

Hi guys, I have been trying to bleed the hydraulic clutch on my beemer gearbox today but to no avail.

The system has had no fluid in it for quite some time, but as the bleed screw will be partially obscured by one of the drive tunnel panels, i thought i'd fill the system in advance.

The problem is that there is no fluid coming out of the bleed screw at all, and as far as i can hear, the slave cylinder isn't moving. When i filled the reservoir, a fair bit of air bubbled up through it, and more when I began bleeding it, but nothing is getting through.

What am i doing wrong?

Are you working alone ? Using an easy bleed ?
If so ditch that and try the two man method same as bleeding brakes

Have u tried leaving the nipple open on the slave see if any makes its way down ?

Are there any kinks in the line or has it been squashed as you fitted the box ?

Not much help i know but worth checking

I'm doing the 2 man method on my own, I can reach both the bleed nipple and the pedal at the moment.

The line isn't kinked or squashed, and even with the bleed nipple removed, no fluid at all comes out.

Can you disconnect the pipe from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder at the MC end? If so you will be able to see if any fluid is leaving the MC.

If fluid is leaving the MC reconnect the pipe and disconnect at SC. Try again and see if fluid is getting through the pipe.

Should be able to narrow it down to which part is at fault then.

Cheers

Dave

Thanks dave, will try that this evening.

I have been wondering if the slave cylinder may be jammed?

Just a thought Sam

It may help if you remove the pipe frim the master cylinder & fit a blanking plug in the hole .... An old fitting & piece of pipe should do the trick ( Just fold the end of the pipe over a couple of times, then crush in a vice ) ;)

When you press the pedal, if the master cylinder is ok you should be able to feel the pressure through the pedal .

It has been my personal experience that some master cylinders don't like to be left empty for any amount of time.

Hope you get it sorted :)

Just a quick master cylinder solution
I replaced all the outlets with bleed nipples, filled and bled each part off the system until the pedal was rock solid, by the 3rd master cylinder it worked then connected one pipe at a time, bleeding until rock solid, found several little leaks and problems but the whole system has been perfect ever since.
It's just a process of ellimination

any progress on this have you managed to sus it out ?
:confused:

Calm down Rob I didn't finish work till half 5. Just had dinner, gonna pop up the garage soon and have a tinker.

Will report back later.

Ok - success!

Here's what I did. The easiest union to get to was the one from the solid pipe from the MC to the flexi line on the slave. I undid this and pumped the pedal slowly, and nothing happened.

I then put a small amount of air pressure on the fluid in the reservoir by sealing my lips round it (don't worry it's very clean!). In a few seconds, fluid dribbled out. Then i tightened it and undid the slave bleed nipple and did the same thing, again, fluid dribbled out.

That last paragraph would sound rather perverted if you didn't know I was talking about a car! The wife just read id and is now rolling around laughing.

Anyways, I then went back to the regular 2 man bleeding method and it seems bled properly now. But man is the pedal stiff now! I'm at it again! stop it now just stop it!

I shortened the pedal about 1 quarter from the donor but i didn't expect it to be this stiff. Will it free up in use? I hope so.