how do you bleed a clutch?

[Woodie]

one more thing on my 1970 midget ...How do you bleed the clutch. if you have pics that would be great too!!

And by the way I figured out the distributore and coil and generator wiring today based on input from you guys ...THANKS!!!

 

[als]

I have a 76 and there is a bleeder valve on the back end of the clutch slave cylinder which is mounted in the bell housing.

I'm not sure if the 70's are the same, but its worth a look.

Good luck.
Al /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/canpatriot.GIF

 

[jlaird]

I think they are all the same, takes two folks. There is a hole in the tunnel for this job.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Yes there is an access hole in the passenger foot well. It is a two person job and can be very aggravating or very simple depending on how your luck runs. I f you have access to a mity vac or a pressure bleeder, that is easiest. If not, then you have to blled it like a brake system. Pump, hold, open bleeder, foot goes to floor, close bleeder, repeat two million times until there are no air bubbles. It is adviseable to push the pushrod into the slave cylinder to eliminate the possibility of an air pocket there. If you search the threads, you can probably find many discussions on this. Good luck.

 

[Woodie]

I have the car on axel stands right now, can I get at the bleed valve from under the car? I can reach in and push the cluth down by hand.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

If the car is right hand drive you can "easily" do it by yourself. However, unless you have freakishly long arms, you will most likely need an assistant. (This is one reason I finally bought a pressure bleeder.)

 

[Woodie]

well friends call me strange for buying a british car, but I have my brother in law helping me

 

[kcbugeye1275]

I've done it by myself on the bugeye back when I had a bad slave cyl. It really can be done by one person sitting in the drivers seat without the car being on jack stands. Pull that rubber plug out of the tranny cover and check out the slave and get the feel of the position needed for the wrench on the bleeder. I think when you get under the car you will see that you aren't really quite in the right position to get to the bleeder. While we're having this discusion, go to the parts store and pick up a cheep bleeder botttle, check valve and hose. Keeps fluid from going where you don't want it, you can easily see if you have any air bubbles, and you can see the condition of the fluid you are bleeding. I have thought of the pressure bleeder, and it is simple to build one, I jsut haven't done one yet. Now, the next issue, castor BF, or synthetic? Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

BTW, I think if you remove the front right wheel you can reach the bleeder from there.... or maybe I'm thinking of a different car... but you can look and see.

 

[Kurtis]

[ QUOTE ]
I have the car on axel stands right now, can I get at the bleed valve from under the car? I can reach in and push the cluth down by hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think you can get a wrench on the bleed valve from underneath the car. In fact, the only way I could get a wrench on the bleed valve on my Bugeye (through the access opening) was to use a mini-breaker bar and a socket. Because of the angle of the bleed valve and clearance issues with the edge of the access opening, I couldn't get a box wrench (not even an offset box wrench) on it.

 

[regularman]

If you cannot get it to bleed any other way, there is another way that I had to use on my 71. I must have put a quart of brake fluid through it and still it would not bleed because there was air in the line and the line goes up and over and acrros and then down to the slave. I talked to a brit who used to race rallys and he said to use the brake wheel cyinder as a pump. Connect a piece of rubber tubing to the bleeder of the brake wheel cylinder to the bleeder on the clutch slave. Open both bleeders and loosen the connecion at the clutch master cylinder and then press the brake pedal until all the air comes out the top at at the clutch master cylinder. Then tighten the bleeder screws and then the connection at the clutch master cylinder. I tried it and it worked like a charm. Of course they make a proper brake pump for the job, but I didn't have one and that worked fine and comes in handy on the road if you need it.

 

[lesingepsycho]

Here's how I do mine and perhaps I'm crazy for doing it this way but it's the only way I could figure to do it myself without it taking FOOOOORRRRREEEEEVVVVVVEEEEERRRRRR
so here'goes...

From underneath the car I remove the two 9/16ths bolts that hold the slave cyl to the trans as well as detaching the fork so that the slave will simply hang there. Then, I open the bleeder, press the rod in with my hand forcing fluid/air out, then close the bleeder and as I let the rod back out it draws in fluid from the reservoir. Doing it this way allows me to do it by myself and make sure I get rid of any pesky air bubbles in the slave cylinder. The only annoyance is topping up the reservoir for every two pumps. Afterwards, just reassemble and you're ready to go.

My dad and I used to always do it the two person pedal-pumping way and it never seemed to get the firmness that one would expect. After my dad passed I needed a way to do it myself and I came up with this method which seems to yield better results anyway.

JACK

 

[zimmy]

u can also stuff ur arm in beside the motor and bleed it with a small wrench....gets easy after you do it 1000 times! ; ) watch for the bubble trap in the highest part of the line.........