So the other weekend i broke my clutch fork and im in the process of putting a new trans and clutch in. Now im down to bleeding the clutch and ive been outside with a mityvac for about an hour and the pedal still feels like 83 honda with 400,000 miles on it. It has a new slave and clutch mc. i didnt disconnect any lines i just pulled the slave out of the bellhousing. what in the world could be going on cause i can barely squeeze my hand anymore haha.

 

did you make sure that the push rod from the slave is in line with fork ?it has happen to me while doing the install thought i nailed it but the rod slipped when i did the install .rechecked my work and i found that it did slip off and it then was fully extended make sure the lines are nice and tight just a thought hope you work it out.

 

yeah the end of the slave is in the indention of the clutch fork and i can see the pressure plate moving when i press the clutch.

 

Have you adjusted the clutch peal, When mine went i had to adjust the clutch pedal, And the second time i had to back off the clutch pedal,

 

That wouldnt have anything to do with how the pedal feels would it?

 

It did on mine, When it was done the first time it had the same symptons as you described , There was not enough travel on the slave , We had to adjust the clutch pedal and the push rod that goes into the master . Then the second time my clutch fork ripped out the bottom fixings, We replaced the clutch fork and had to readjust the clutch peadal again . Not saying it is the problem , But its a simple proceedure and it worked for me. But they are well known to be bad mothers to bleed. I have also known,The the seal/piston to turn inside out in the master and this has been rectified by back bleeding from the slave by blowing air from your spare or front tyre. Rix

 

Few things on this -

- I'd use the old fashioned method of bleeding the clutch. Get a buddy in the car, push the pedal down, crack the bleeder, let the pressure out, close the bleeder, have your buddy raise the pedal, repeat. I've had weird results sometimes with Mityvacs.

- Make sure the throwout bearing is engaged into the pressure plate. Look through the inspection plate at the bottom to verify. When you put the tranny back in, you have to use a long screwdriver to push the throwout bearing into the pressure plate so it locks into the retaining ring. If this wasn't done, your clutch will funchtionally not be working.

- The clutch master shares fluid with the brake reservoir, but it ONLY uses the back part of the fluid reservoir - there's a "wall" there. Mazda designed it like this so if the clutch died and bled all the hydraulics out it wouldn't drain the brakes dry, because no brakes = very bad situation. First time I bled my clutch I had trouble because I didn't realize I was draining the fluid from the reservoir and sucking air into the lines, took forever to get it right.

- Make sure all the fluid lines are solid and good, no leaks. If you put in a new master and slave, I would recommend putting in a new rubber clutch hose at some point, preferably a stainless steel braided hose. It's generally a good idea to replace all the parts of the system when one goes bad, because the next component will likely fail on you soon.

Dale

 

this is very important. make sure it is filled to the top

 

power bleeder? it's what I use, you basically presurize the brake fluid reservoir and just crack open the bleed valves, works great!

 

Even with Speed Bleeders on my clutch slave, the system is the worst to bleed of any manual car that I have own. Mine takes a lot of pumping after bleeding to get the system 100% full again. They have been that way new and after replacement with new ones later on. It also includes the SS braided clutch line.

Either the master or slave springs are designed too weak and that causes them to take long to fully force fluid back into them.

 

ok ill try and adjust the pedel because the fluid is good the throwout is in the pressure plate. After driving to and from VIR today it has started to stiffen up just a tad. i just cant see how air got in the lines when i didnt disconnect any lines on the clutch or brake system.

 

Nice meeting you this weekend. Sorry I didn't have more time to talk. It was kind of a busy time.

 

Oh thats cool man nice meetin you too. Ok so now I have adjusted the clutch and i am getting no air when i bleed the clutch, but the pedal STILL feels like absolute crap. Also now the im getting a squeeking noise when I depress the pedal. As a reminder the slave and clutch mc are both new and maybe have 100 miles on em.

 

I f***ing hate unfinished threads.... tf happened next?.... And why did no one mention bench bleeding?

 

No one mentioned it because you can't bench bleed the clutch master.

 

One thing that I noticed when I did mine was thato the slave cylinder bleed nipple is very loose when you loosen it. What I do is I get some bearing grease and put it around the base of the bleed nipple so that when it is open air can't get through the threads. Once I did that it was super easy to bleed. You can tell if yours is like that because the bleed nipple will have a lot of play when loosened. It worked great for me.

 

Huh, My bleeder nipple is very loose. Even when it is only a tiny bit open, there is a lot of play. That's what I was thinking, like isn't this letting air through?.. But I didn't think that a freakin bleed nipple, designed for bleeding and not leaking air while doing it, would leak air.....
So bearing grease does the job? What about if you take it out and throw some teflon tape on it or some thread sealant?

 

I was referring to bench bleeding the slave, which is what everyone seems to be saying you should do.

 

i bled mine the other day took only 5 pumps to get a few drips and then not long after got a good squirt every time. my method was pump three times hold to the floor ,release bleeder nut then tighten and repeat

did you place a funnel in your reservoir and keep it topped with brake fluid while bleeding so the only way fluid or air can go is out your slave

 

no funnel, i just keep an eye on the fluid level and top it off when needed. And i keep the cap closed all the time.