Got a question for the fellow T-56 owners. Is there a trick to bleeding the damn clutch? mad.gif

New Master, new clutch, new throwout bearing, drill mod. I stupidly put the wrong fluid in the clutch reservoir and my dad pointed it out last week. I spent 6 hours today trying to flush and bleed the system today, but still have no pressure on the pedal.

If you tap the pedal it will pump up a little pressure, but when you depress its gone instantly and the clutch isn't disengaging.

Any clues?

The Haynes manual says to hook up a tube with the other end in fluid. Is there some kind of tool I need for this, cause right now its a PITA to get to the bleed valve, have to lower the tranny to the ground practically.

Any help is appreciated

 

You should be able to reach the bleed valve fairly easy. You dont have to lower the tranny. Be sure to keep the resevoir full at all times. You need to have someone open the bleeder first. Pump the pedal until fluid is steadily coming out of the slave. Be sure and push and hold the pedal down and then tighten the bleeder. Pump your pedal and see if this works. Repeat if neccesary.

 

We had the same problem on my sons WS6. We got it to bled by removing the line/hose going in to the throwout bearing assembly ( down by the transmission). Then we raised the line so that it was approximately the same height as the reservoir. Take a punch and push in the end of the hose/valve to release the air bubbles. After getting out some of the bubbles, we pressed gently on the clutch pedal and repeated the process. Be careful here, you dont want to spray fluid all over the place and on you, operative word is to press the clutch pedal gently, we pressed on the pedal by hand. It is a good idea to wrap a rag around the end of the hose to catch the fluid. Then you hook up the hose to the throwout bearing and you can bleed the system the normal way, press on the pedal and loosen the bleeder valve,etc. same as doing brakes. We were never able to get a good bleed until we followed this process. Now I have a pressure brake bleeder so the process is easy.

 

Mitty-vac. That's all I have to say. Best $25 I ever spent. Put a 3' tube on the pump and one of the needle point tips on the other. Open up the reservoir and stick the needle point down into the hose going to the master. Pull some vacuum and you'll get about 1' of fluid up the hose. Then magically, bubbles will start pulling out up through the fluid. Hold vacuum until no more bubbles. Remove tube, screw on cap, and you're done.

Kevin D.

 

Good info, I'll give this a run this weekend.

Silly question...but how do you get to the throwout bearing with the tranny on the car?

And what did you mean I don't have to drop the transmission? I have no clue how your getting to the bleeder with it sitting all the way up in the tunnel, i can hardly get my hand to it with the tranny hanging down on a jack. Did you cut a hole in the floorboard or something?

 

Yes, it is a tight fit getting to the bleeder on a 4th gen. I think it is a 10mm hex, I was able to reach it with a 1/4" drive ratchet and a deep socket. I believe we put the socket on the bleeder and then attached the ratchet to the socket. Great fun!

 

I was bleeding a clutch the other day an could not get it to pump up even after going through several reivoirs of fluid so I left it for the the next day and came back and it was very hard to depress but it would at least release the clutch but it seemed like it maybe didnt release it completely but I culd be just expecting it to turn more freely. any ideas are apreciated.

 

I love standards, but hate clutch masters, lol

Maybe there is more room for this in the 4th gen, but on my thirdgen, with the trans in the tunnel, there is 0 room.

i was trying to use a ratchet last weekend, but the thing would either switch directions when I didnt want to, or not switch when I needed to shut the valve quickly, its was a PITA. Ended up using a socket (11) and a pair of vice grips....but I still took the skin off my knuckles even with the trans hanging down really far.

 

Conversions can be a pain sometimes, but they are nice. I have gotten away from manuals, my cars are all cruisers so a good 200-4r or a 700-r4 work best for me. Even my son is starting to see the benefits of an automatic, he has been thru 3 transmissions and about as many clutches and throwout bearings. Its all a matter of what you like best, but a heavy clutch and heavy city traffic isnt fun.

 

Ended up being a stupid mistake on my part. I did the drill mod to the checkvalve instead of the side that goes into the master.

I just got a new pre-bled clutch master, resiviour, hose from GM.

Should I take it apart and do the drill mod, or just leave it alone? Got a ~400HP running to a Spec 2.