Alright here’s the deal. I’ve installed a new clutch (Competition), Flywheel(Competition), Counterweight, Braided steel clutch line.
I’ve bled the brakes and it went smoothly, now when it came to the slave cylinder I can’t get it to properly bleed which is what I believe is causing my problem. My master and slave were installed last year around July timeframe.

Problem: Clutch pedal sticks to the floor. Sometimes after I bleed it it’s good except for when I fully depress it to start the car or to try and go into gear. Also, when I did get it into gear it engaged off the floor too.

I’ve attempted bleeding it via vacuum pump, regular line and bottle, even just opening and closing the valve. I’ve done the procedure of hold clutch down, open valve, close valve, release the clutch and yet to no avail. We tried pumping the clutch and doing the same procedure and nothing works. The only thing that comes out of the clear hose is foamy bubbles. I’ve been trying to bleed this the past three days and it’s kicking my *** I’ve scoured YouTube and the forums but I’m still stumped. Any help would be appreciated thank you all.

 

sounds like like you need to replace something. new parts fail, don't close yourself to this possibility

 

Power Bleeder with 2 or 3 liters of brake fluid and a rubber mallet.
Pressurize to 15 psi
Bleed the brakes again giving each a few whacks with the rubber mallet to loosen sticky bubbles.
Make sure Power Bleeder is always pressurized and has fluid, add fluid+pressure as needed.
After brakes are done do the clutch again,
clutch down, open valve, couple whacks, close valve
do the same with clutch up
make sure Power Bleeded has fluid+pressure and with valve open move clutch up down up down a few times then close valve.
Try to see if clutch works.
As said before, if it doesn't work maybe something needs to be replaced

 

Thank you for your help. I will try this out tomorrow early morning.
just to be clear with your instructions, when you said do the same with the clutch up are you
referring to opening the valve, whacking it then closing it while the clutch is up too? And then after I do these steps I follow up with the power bleeder connected with fluid and pressure I open the valve and pump it all the way down a few time then close it. When I close it do I close it while the pedal is all the way down or when it is up?
thank you again I’m hoping this will resolve the problem.

 

he's saying to pressurize the system (either via motiv power bleeder or foot/something on the brake pedal, open bleeder, tap the slave cylinder with something, close the bleeder, repeat.

tapping the caliper or slave cylinder with something should help loosen up any air bubbles clinging to the internal walls and get the air to move into the bleeder. that's the theory anyway.


If I am understanding your scenario correctly, you installed a new clutch and clutch line. There were not any issues with the activation of the slave cylinder before. There are afterwards. The issue presents itself as air in the clutch hydraulics. Correct?

If so, re-check the clutch line connections. Wondering if they might be slightly loose or if there could be an issue (leak?) with the line or it's fittings (defective hose). You could may try putting some sealant on the threads of the clutch line and bleeder screw. Sometimes the threads are stretched and don't seal well.

Worse case scenario, you an re-install the stock clutch line and see if you can bleed the clutch slave with the stock line in place.

Good luck.

Edit: there is an old, known issue with the clutch fork where it can crack slightly and cause clutch engagement problems. Probably not this if your issue is bleeding the clutch but thought I'd mention it.

 

I had a very hard time bleeding the system when I replaced the brake master, clutch master and slave. Power bleeder with lots of fluid (over 2 quarts), a rubber mallet, and a heavy dose of patience for repetition did the trick.

I always use a clear hose at the bleeding valve to catch the fluid and see the bubbles.
So while there's pressure in the power bleeder I would crack open the valve, get it flowing -not too fast- and whack it with the mallet and I would press and pull on the (brake or clutch depending on what im bleeding) pedal while keeping a close watch on the power bleeder to make sure it never ran empty or lost pressure. I went through lots of fluid this way but I got everything to work in the end.

 

The slave is fiddly to bleed sometimes. I love my Motive bleeder. But if what neit jnf suggested doesn’t work you may want to double-check that the clutch disc is installed properly….not reversed.

 

thank you for this detailed response. I forgot to mention that I installed a new clutch fork, release bearing, pilot bearing, clutch, flywheel, counterweight, steel line, rear main seal, the seal in front of the pilot bearing, the inner and outer transmission seals as well.

prior to the transmission being dropped initially the cause of it was that I would feel a loud clunk whenever the clutch engaged and it progressively got louder until the pedal went soft and right after it went soft the next time I depressed the pedal it got stuck down. Then the car sat for a few months until I could get the chance to work on it (and the parts) after moving I tried driving the car again and it would go into gear just fine and drive fine around the parking lot( this was only one day) the next day when I put it in gear it would start moving forward even with the pedal all the way down. Fast forward to now the problem is when I bleed the slave. The brakes bled just fine, the slave however is finicky. If I crack it open slightly with vacuum applied and the pedal depressed before opening barely anything comes out. The more I open the bleeder nothing comes out until eventually I believe I open it too much that foamy bubbles come out( probably because it’s drawing air in from the valve)
Sometimes during the bleeding process the pedal comes back other times it gets stuck down. When it does come back on it’s own it feels really soft and when I put it in gear it sticks to the floor.
Thank you

 

how exactly does the power bleeder you speak of work? The bleeder I have is the hand pump vacuum from good old harbor freight. I’m going to
give the rubber mallet a try

 

I really hope this isn’t the case. I did my research and found that there’s only one way to put the disc on properly. It’s where it sits flush with the flywheel right? Right??

 

this description is exactly the symptoms of a failed clutch master.... to the letter. replace the clutch master and get a slave rebuild kit from mazda

 

Could you explain how exactly? Both were replaced new less than a year ago. I understand that new parts can fail, but could you explain how it all relates? Is the master sucking in air from somewhere and that’s what’s causing the slave to not bleed properly? I see no visible leaks and I’m aware that the master has internal seals that could leak from there. Thank you

 

I can’t seem to find any rebuild kits for the slave cylinder. Instead I found that Atkins sells a slave for $35 and Racing beat sells one for $15.
I’ve shopped from Atkins’s before but I’m not sure if racing beat is valid. I’m very skeptical

 

Note that FDAuto said master, not slave.

Rockauto has a master from Exedy for $36. Ray Crowe might have them but expect price to be near $100 for OEM. I'd trust the Exedy from rockauto over whatever rebranded part Atkins might sell you.

 

Right on thank you for the advice. Rockauto for the Exedy master, but in regards to the slave I couldn’t find a rebuild kit except on eBay. I had seen that RacingBeat has a slave cylinder for $15 and they claim to sell products directly from Exedy. I’m not sure how valid that statement is.

 

In regards to the car, I tried the mallet and vacuum trick and yet no resolve. I’m going to order the master and slave and replace them again.

 

the power bleeder I use is this one, it pressurizes the whole system via the master cylinder. I use the universal one.

https://www.motiveproducts.com/colle...t-bleeder-kits

 

Hell yeah much thanks

 

Maybe my timing was good for once and they've since gone out of stock, but I bought a new slave a couple years ago from Ray Crowe. IIRC ~$120 plus shipping. For that I didn’t feel like dicking with a rebuild kit.

 

Thank you everyone. Replacing the clutch master cylinder and rebleeding the slave with much patience. I noticed that I was also opening the bleeder too much although this time fluid and air shot out of the valve.
I also noticed that I bled the slave with the clutch pedal adjusted a quarter turn from disconnecting the adjustment part of it. I fixed that too. Overall the problem was the clutch master cylinder.

Now the vehicle drives fine except for the transmission gets really hot and there’s a grinding noise whenever I give it gas and it’s most noticeable in 4th gear. Oh well time to do more research. At least I drove the car first time in 5 months of it sitting !!!