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Bleeding Clutch

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M

mxp01

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Gentlemen:

We recently had the master cylinder rebuilt for our 1960 BE. It is a dual MC. Tonight we were trying to get the hydraulic fluid back into the lines but have run into difficulty. We were able to get the brakes completed, the pedal has significant pressure. When we started bleeding the clutch we were unable to build up adequate pressure. When we open the bleeder screw on the slave cylinder sometimes we get a good squirt of fluid, sometimes we get some air/fluid mix, and sometimes just air, but it was all inconsistent. We worked on it at least 30 minutes, but we can't seem to build up consistent pressure.

Any advice?
 
I been fighting that prob for months. Still fighting it.
 
Search this forum, lots & lots of discussion on this topic... took me 3 days of trying different method's to finally get mine working after installing a rebuild kit.
 
I recently ran into this problem. I had the same symptoms as you. It eventually took me getting my friend to assist me who has worked on mg's in the past.

What he did was remove the slave from the bracket and emoved the rubber gasket and pin, then push the plunger all the way in with this finger. While holding it in he then had me slowly pump the clutch pedal to force the air out of the system. Eventually after repeated pumps the plunger started to push his finger out and he replaced the pin and rubber cover. It seemed to work.

You might try priming the slave before you install it as he described to me what was happening was there was so much air in the slave cylinder that when you pump the system the pin is not pushed out far enough to engage the clutch which would then push back and force the brake fluid out of the bleeder. Instead all I was doing was pissing brake fluid out of the bleeder from the reservoir.
 
I had a similar problem and it was the master. Make sure the clutch side of the master is working properly.
 
Thanks for all the input.

The other half of my team, my son, left for Spring Break, so it'll be next week before we can get at it again.

BTW: I read the linked discussion. Did someone mention the bleeder screw letting in air? My son kept commenting that he thought he heard air getting sucked into the slave when he would open the screw while I had my foot depressed on the pedal. Was he right? Does this happen? Any suggestions?

Mike Pennell
 
Have your son hold his finger on the bleeder when it is open and you are pumping. If he hold it lightly it will allow for air and fluid to escape and create a vacuum that will not allow air back in. Have a wrench ready to tighten the bleeder without removing the finger. I bit of tricky work considering the amount of room, but this has been the best way that I have found. And probably the most common.,
 
You have air trapped in the line. The only successful way I ever found was to bleed it backwards from the bottom up. Use the brake wheel cylinder on that side as a fluid pump. Hook the brake bleeder to the clutch slave with a hose and loosen the clutch master line and let the air bleed out the top.
 
What I did was dismount the SC from the transmission. Mounted it on a thin sheet of metal, that had holes drilled out for securing the SC too. This way the whole bleeding experience was exactly like bleeding the brakes, the system had resistance just like the brakes.
 
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