Going to bleed your clutch hydraulics? Read this first.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 15,622
Likes: 2,725
From: Pensacola, FL
Going to bleed your clutch hydraulics? Read this first.
Yesterday I installed stainless braided brake lines on the car and did a few other things. I wasn't super eager to get stainless lines, but I found a KILLER deal (closeout a while back at OptAuto for $60 or so!), and the brakes needed bleeding anyhow...
So, I got the lines on, fully bled, all happy. Since the clutch master cylinder shares the brake master cylinder's fluid reservoir, I figured it would be a good idea to bleed the clutch as well.
I got under the car and got the lines and everything hooked up, with a buddy in the car on the clutch pedal. We bled for a bit, the reservoir filled up with some NASTY fluid, so I got out and empied the reservoir. The brake master cylinder's reservoir was only a little low, so I didn't bother to top it off.
Got back under and went back to bleeding. Started getting more and more air, and my friend reported less and less pedal pressure. Huh?
Turns out there's a "wall" in the fluid reservoir that is at the back quarter of the fluid reservoir, and it goes up about 3/4ths of the way. That section was bone-dry, but the front was still full. Whoops!
Makes sense - if the clutch hydralics fail and leak out, you'll still have plenty of fluid to run your brake system. Good safety move by Mazda.
So, we had to bleed the CRAP out of the clutch to get the pedal back since it sucked in so much air.
Moral of the story - keep the master cylinder full as you bleed the clutch, or you're gonna have some serious work ahead of you
.
Dale
So, I got the lines on, fully bled, all happy. Since the clutch master cylinder shares the brake master cylinder's fluid reservoir, I figured it would be a good idea to bleed the clutch as well.
I got under the car and got the lines and everything hooked up, with a buddy in the car on the clutch pedal. We bled for a bit, the reservoir filled up with some NASTY fluid, so I got out and empied the reservoir. The brake master cylinder's reservoir was only a little low, so I didn't bother to top it off.
Got back under and went back to bleeding. Started getting more and more air, and my friend reported less and less pedal pressure. Huh?
Turns out there's a "wall" in the fluid reservoir that is at the back quarter of the fluid reservoir, and it goes up about 3/4ths of the way. That section was bone-dry, but the front was still full. Whoops!
Makes sense - if the clutch hydralics fail and leak out, you'll still have plenty of fluid to run your brake system. Good safety move by Mazda.
So, we had to bleed the CRAP out of the clutch to get the pedal back since it sucked in so much air.
Moral of the story - keep the master cylinder full as you bleed the clutch, or you're gonna have some serious work ahead of you
. Dale
Hi....
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 845
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From: bay area
Originally Posted by Mahjik
That works real well
. Dale's on a discovery write-up frenzy!Jeremy
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 15,622
Likes: 2,725
From: Pensacola, FL
I've always wanted to get one of those things . I was trying the Mityvac method on brake bleeding - did OK. Hard to beat Speedbleeders, though - I had a set of front Speedbleeders from AGES back, worked great on the front brakes .
Dale
. I was trying the Mityvac method on brake bleeding - did OK. Hard to beat Speedbleeders, though - I had a set of front Speedbleeders from AGES back, worked great on the front brakes .Dale
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