how to bleed clutch on 91 accord???

[clampjockey]

i popped a hole in my steel line for my clutch today, most of the line was rotton so i ended putting about a 4 foot length in from the master cylynder to the fitting on the frame. now i can't seem to bleed the system. there's absolutely no pressure on the pedal as you pump it, and when i loosen the bleeder nipple each time, very little fluid comes out and only trickles out with maybe the odd little air bubble, but neither seems to have pressure pushing it out. should there be more pressure to the pedal when bleeding it? or is it possible that i have a slave cylynder failure that's not allowing the pedal to build pressure to bleed it? we've run pretty much a whole bottle of brake fluid through it, but still get no pressure when we pump the pedal and still only get small trickles of fluid each time.

[jeffcoslacker]

Leave the bleeder open, leave the cap off the slave resevoir. Fill the resevoir and keep watching for the fluid to come out steady with no air down at the cylinder. When it does, close the bleeder, top off the slave, put the cap on, and depress the clutch pedal slowly about 1/2 way repeatedly until you feel the pedal firm up. Keep watching the fluid level, it may drop as the air works back through it.

If you get a strong flow of fluid from the bleeder by gravity filling it this way, you can assume the cylinder is pretty well purged. Now all you have to do is get the air outta the slave, which is what pumping the pedal does...pumping the pedal and opening the bleeder before you have a full system doesn't do anything, except suck more air in...once you have a pedal feel, THEN bleed any remaining air from the bleeder side.

If you can't get a pedal feel after this, the slave may be bad. You might also try opening the line where it comes to the slave...sometimes this will expidite purging air from the cylinder....use it like a bleeder, open, have someone push the pedal, close BEFORE they bottom out; repeat.

Lottle people think when you bleed you're supposed to hit bottom with the pedal and then close it up...not so..that's hard on the cylinder and can suck air back in as the person pushing the pedal changes how hard they hold it after bottoming...you wanna always just open-close in a quick one-two motion, and be closed before they bottom out...

[clampjockey]

thanks for the reply, i left the bleeder and master cylinder open last night, hopefully it'll work its way through. I'll be checking it soon. as far as pushing the pedal too far, its like there's no pressure at all, all i have to do is push the pedal about 1/2 inch, then it snaps itself to the floor, like a spring is pulling it. would changing the route that the line from the master cyl to the fitting on the frame takes, affect the ability to bleed the system?

[jeffcoslacker]

Yes...if you create a bend or a run that runs upward at some point, then down, it'll never bleed the air from that section...

We have trouble with clutch and brake bleeding on motorcycles for that reason, where they mount the cylinder the line arcs up before going down to the brake or clutch...sometimes you have to slide the cylinder up to the top bend of the bars before the line will purge...get rid of that upward arch, and it all comes out real easy..

[jeffcoslacker]

Yeah I know how those pedals act when they are dead...sometimes you gotta just pump by hand and control it's movement...

[clampjockey]

Thanks for all the help jeff. i was pretty disgusted when i went to the shop this morning to see the resevoir still full to the brim. a couple quick pumps of the pedal though, and it dropped to half. once i got the air outta the slave cylinder, i had a leak where the line goes into the fitting at the frame.....a bad furl....my bad. i'm assuming this could be what caused me to have so much trouble getting a steady flow of fluid at the slave cyl. anyhow....long story short, after almost 3 bottles of brake fluid, i have my clutch back. Thanks again.