Easier to bleed clutch?
 

My clutch pedal went to the floor on Friday, but it was temporary only. I was able to drive it home from work, but every now and then it went down and I had to pull it up with my feet; didn't need to pump it. I figured the slave cylinder or master cylinder is the culprit, so I just bought new cylinders earlier today from Rock Auto. On Friday, I needed to go out of town about 1 hour and 40minutes away and figured I'll just fix it at my destination. I was able to make it there fine since there wasn't any stop and go traffic, but now my car is sitting there at my girlfriend's parents' house while I'm back home.

This past weekend, I was able to get some used parts off of other tii fc owners to temporarily get it running so I can drive it home. I decided to replace them for the mean time, but this time the pedal wasn't getting stiff anymore as before or better. I believe it is the way I was bleeding it. I find it difficult to open and close the bleed valve with an 8mm wrench while the oil filter is in the way; I don't have enough room to tighten the valve or open the valve without damaging the screw. Should I remove the oil filter or is there an easier way to approach this? I used a cheap bleed kit from O'Reilly that costs $8.99. Just a clear tube and a plastic bottle that says add a few inches of dot 3. Felt I could've invested in a much better kit.

I searched a bit on the forums and found that I can use a bike pump or air compressor? I have one of those small battery jumper + air compressor built in one. How would I use that to bleed? This is my first time bleeding the clutch as well.

Thanks for reading. I have an s5 usdm 13bt engine.

are you attempting to bleed this by yourself? if so, that will not work with a factory bleeder.

you need someone to pump the clutch and hold the pressure while you or whoever cracks the nipple to let the air out. Then tighten the nipple, let off the pedal, and pump it back up, repeat until firm pedal. Nipple.

i was doing this with my girlfriend. had her sit in the car and depress the pedal and hold it while i release the air/fluid into the bleeder tube into a tiny bleeder bottle that came in the kit. after watching the bubbles in the fluid go away, i close the valve and had her bring the pedal back up with her feet and pump it a few times, but the pedal still falls to the floor. attempted the process over and over again and can't even get it to stay stiff. perhaps i am doing it wrong. i find it hard to close tighten the bleeder valve because of the oil filter in the way and my 8mm wrench isn't meant for a bleeder valve. i saw online that there are wrenches meant for bleeding clutch and brakes. maybe i need to get one of those?

That would be a "line" or "flare" wrench.

Before I got speedbleeders, here's how I used to bleed stuff without a helper:

Get about 10' of clear plastic tubing that fits tightly on the bleed nipple.
Figure a way to hang the tubing straight up from the nipple a couple of feet and coil what's left.
Attach tube to bleeder and add brake fluid to the hose till it's a couple of feet up the tube, then loosen the bleeder.

Now slowly pump the pedal, the fluid in the tube will rise and air bubbles should percolate through.
As you release the pedal, suction will draw fluid back instead of air, so watch the level in the tubing.
If you're seeing bubbles and beginning to feel resistance in the pedal, you're on the way.
Close the bleeder and slowly pump a few times, then crack the bleeder again.
Repeat as necessary.

If you have the time, just leave the bleeder open (with fluid in the tube) and let it sit overnight.
Air will make it out on it's own.

Clokker you have the PN for the Russel speed bleed for the clutch slave? I need to do that one still.... Not to thread jack.

Exactly what he said.

Speed bleeder ftw, when working alone.

Remember to tighten the bleeder when the fluid slows down at the end of the stroke (pedal pump), when using a helper. Also make sure the hose is snug at the bleeder, and don't loosen the bleeder too much. Lastly, remember to hold the container that catches the used fluid above the level of the bleeder. That way the bubbles don't go back.

I always forget that last part, lol.

Oh, and Manlaw!

edit: what they said, lol.
edit again: https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...sizing-203961/ see post 6 and 8

I just attach some tubing from the bleeder and route it back into the reservoir.
Fill up the reservoir, open the valve and pump away.
Just make sure the fluid level stays above the end of the hose.

And flare wrenches work brilliantly.

Man law only applies in the lounge.

hose back into the res just like rxspeed said. easy. and also, those one man bleed kits work fine, bled my entire brake system. longest part of the job was removing rear wheels, can reach the front bleeder without removing the wheels.

You can totally hold the clutch pedal down with a steering wheel Club and do it solo.

Lol done that before too ^. With a snow broom handle.

Mittyvac. Easy. Cheap and good tobhave for brakes.

Thanks for all the advices guys. I'll attempt this again this weekend when I go back out of town. Hopefully I can get it done this time. By the way, anyone have any idea how I can remove the hard metal lines without stripping the bolts? I think they are 10mm but they seem so fragile that it can be stripped easily.

Flare nut wrench.
It's essential.

Yup, remove the oil filter.

when your doing the clutch its better to just pump the pedal by hand because the pedal will stay to the floor even even right after you remove all the air. The pump right after that should pop the pedal back up

Forgot to update this. I ended up buying a mityvac and that solved the problem. Took me like 15 minutes and I was done! The next day I parked the car at the BART station and someone broke into my FC and stole my mityvac...I'll take the $35 loss compared to losing the whole car.

They probably thought it was a sex toy.

If you can get a helper get one or a 2x4 with the right length and using the seat to slide forward and hold the pedal down.

pump it slowly a few times.

place 2x4 on pedal in depressed position

slide seat forward holding 2x4 in place

walk around to slave cylinder and place 8mm wrench on bleeder

place other hand on the clutch fork lever and loosen the bleeder as you pull the fork towards you.

The stock pedal doesn't let the piston go all the way down but if you give it a helping hand you can get all the air out in 2-3 bleed cycles.