[GenX'r]

Damas y Caballeros: I had the pleasure yesterday of bleeding the T56 clutch on my '00 Z28 for the first time after a motor swap. For various sundry reasons I was relegated to cracking and closing the slave cylinder bleeder while my son pumped the clutch and added hydraulic fluid as needed. Anyway, after doing this for a while there was no pressure build up in the clutch. I was anxious to see if my newly swapped motor would start and so gave up on the clutch bleed and let the new engine run for about 20 minutes. I then pressed the clutch pedal on a random impulse with no expectation of it working and lo and behold it pressured up and is working fine.

Question: Did the heat (expansion of air) generated to the fluid in the master cylinder and/or slave cylinder through the engine idling cause the system to pressure up? If so, then how come in all of the "how to's" I've read online this very important part of the clutch bleeding process was never mentioned?

After changing the clutch master cylinder in a SVT Ford Focus I once owned, I managed to pressure up the clutch hydraulics independent of operation of the motor.

Thanks,

Curious

 

[GenX'r]

45 views as of today but no replies....???....hmmm...interesting...

 

[USMC]

I know about 9 yrs ago a buddy of mine did the same for his 02 T/A and ran into the same thing. He could not figure it out and out of frustration he just got in it started it up and it just worked. I know it is an independent system so I myself do not understand.

 

[95 Firehawk]

Not sure if I misunderstand you or not, but you did press the clutch several times with the bleed screw tightened after you finished bleeding, right? Just had to ask since by what was written it sounded like you may have been trying to get pressure to build as you were bleeding, which isn't going to happen.

Being a completely closed system, there is no correlation to the engine warming up and clutch system hydraulics. When working properly, there should be no expanding or compression of the hydraulic fluid at any operating temperature.


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[donzilla69]

I reverse bleed mine . Was fast took 2 minutes . I opens the bleeder had my myte vac pump on it . Had the suction side in fluid and slowly pumped it till the ready stopped bubbling . Seemed to work fine . Did get some fluid overflow but beet 25 minutes of trying to bleed it like brakes .

 

[GenX'r]

Yes, I did pump it after the bleed. I like the reverse suction idea (donzilla 69). Will consider it if I have the unfortunate occurence of needing to bleed it again. Thanks for responding, guys.

 

[Syndacate]

The write-ups tell you to make sure air doesn't get in there because air doesn't compress like DOT brake/clutch fluid does. Clutch fluid is much more resistant to heat/pressure. Air is weaker and unpredictable and will often give that spongy feeling.

As donzilla69 said, vacuums are the best way to do this, but not everybody has a vacuum, lol. I've never used one.

So that being said, just to make sure your clutch bleed procedure was correct, you opened the bleeder, pumped the pedal a few times then *held it down to the floor*, tightened the bleeder, released the pedal. Repeat until clear fluid comes out of the nipple, making sure to add to the reservoir as necessary. Is this what you did?

It's decently normal for it not to have pressure right away, not entirely sure why, but it'll be spongey for a bit, but after you've flushed the system thoroughly, and tighten the bleeder nut, and you pump it a few times, then it hardens right up. I've had that happen before, but ideally, it should be hard as long as there's fluid in the reservoir and the nut is closed.

As long as it's fully disengaged and the pedal has a solid feel I wouldn't worry about it.

I have a little trick for testing full disengagement (nobody likes it, but it works for me, so meh). Basically what you do is start rolling (in a parking lot or something) up to like 10-15mph in 1st, then clutch in and kill the engine without braking. Now what will happen is 1 of 2 things: 1. the car will slowly coast to a stop without any 'interruptions' - this is ideal. 2. As the car is slowing to a stop, you'll feel a tug here and there, as if you were tapping the brakes. A small jolt forward per-se. This is because the clutch isn't fully disengaged and the engine is providing resistance to the free coast of the car at times, when it touches the wheel..

Anywho, hope that helps a bit.