Hi everyone, I’m a total newb when it comes to modding cars so I have to do a ton of research before I can comfortably mess with anything on my Z28. I was having some high rpm shift issues (wouldn't go into third sometimes), even though I have a Tick master cylinder. Turns out I was bleeding it wrong. I pm’d Martin@Tick (Martin Smallwood) and he was kind enough to give me a detailed set of instructions for the process.

Martin:

“Try this then, unhook the line from the master to the slave at the slave cylinder.

Get a buddy for this one.

There is a check valve in the brass/gold colored fitting at the end of that line that your helper will need to press in only after you have pressure on the clutch pedal. Once you have your foot resting on the clutch pedal (it will be rock solid firm with the line unhooked) have your helper press the valve in with a screw driver or pen while you pump downwards on the clutch and hold it there.

Hold the clutch to the floor until the fluid is done coming out of the line for that single pump. Have your helper let off the check valve, count to three and then release the clutch pedal. Repeat this process catching the fluid in a bottle or jar and if it's new clean fluid return it back to the reservoir to repeat this process again until you have filled and emptied the reservoir at least 2-3 times through the master. Then move to the slave cylinder side after installing your speed bleeder and bleeding the slave from there.

This should eliminate any air in the line and cut down on the amount of time needed to bleed fluid from the slave. If you try to bleed it from the slave itself it will take forever and a lot of people think that just because they've been bleeding for 15 minutes from the slave that it's enough in reality it isn't.”

I then had to ask, when bleeding the slave, how long would be enough to consider it good? Is there a particular procedure to follow when NOT using the speed bleeder? I don’t have my speed bleeder installed as of yet.

Martin:

“Use the same method of bleeding as you did with the master.

Put slight pressure on the clutch pedal, have someone crack the factory bleeder on the slave and then follow the steps above. Keep the pedal pressed to the floor for 3 seconds after tightening the bleeder on the slave back up to keep air from entering back into the hydraulic system.

If you've bled it properly from the master, bleeding from the slave should only take 15-30 minutes of constant bleeding. Just keep re-using the same fluid so you're not wasting new fluid.”

Following what Martin had told me I was able to get most if not all the air out of the master and slave cylinders. The only thing I’d recommend to other newbs out there would be to have a 3rd buddy watching the fluid level in the reservoir. When bleeding the master we accidentally ran it empty not once but twice and had to start over…

I determined each cylinder was bled properly when per each pump of the pedal there was an identical amount of fluid being drained from the reservoir. When bleeding the master cylinder I also noticed a stronger and more consistent stream of fluid when it seemed to be free of air. Hopefully some of you guys out there can take something away from all this, I sure had a hell of a time getting it right myself lol.

Eric Brandenburg


IMO that info ought to be in a sticky. Very good info for people who've never messed with this sort of thing. Thanks again Martin!

 

No problem Eric I am very glad that my help alleviated your problems!!!

I see this so often and most of my calls about hydraulic issues are solved by doing just this.

Take a note guys if you haven't done this and are having these problems...do this!!!

And I think Eric's thread/post should be stickied!

 

Just bumping this back up for any guys that are still having these issues. I still get alot of calls each day where guys are having these problems. Following this procedure you should be able to use your car and trans as intended!

 

I have a tick that I have not installed yet.Souldn't you bench bleed the master before you install it.If you do
that can you use a mitty vac to do the rest?

 

Yes you should, but sometimes it just isn't enough and air can end up getting back into the system some how. If you bench bleed the master, and do this once it is on the car you will not have any troubles if you bleed it just like this says.

I have a lot of guys that don't bench bleed them or even do bench bleed them and still have issues. Bleeding the master the way the OP described is technically "bench bleeding" it. You're just doing it on the car in this way.

 

What I did, with the Tick bleeder:

I installed everything empty. I didn't bench bleed a thing. No need to.

Now we all know the new Tick bleeder has a one way check valve. That's great if you have adequate fluid in the slave and master, but worthless if it's empty.

I filled the reservoir and left the cap off (obviously)

I began pumping the clutch pedal and couldn't get any fluid to move. So...

I took off the check valve part and set it to the side. Stuck that end of the hose into a mason jar (don't ask about the mason jar) half filled with DOT4, and began pumping the pedal. After about 8 pumps I was starting to lose fluid in the reservoir, so refilled and continued to pump.

Slowly my pedal pressure began to increase as the system became full of fluid, and shortly there after I reinstalled the check valve at the end. I tightened it all the way down, then cracked it open a half turn. At this point, I had fluid coming only from the one way check valve when I would push the pedal down.

**For those with a spongy pedal for the first half inch or so, read below**

After a full bottle of DOT4, I had removed all the air from the system, however my pedal was still a bit spongy during the first inch or so of downward travel (as folks have reorted in the past).

I called Martin and he advised only pump the "spongy" portion. I did, and the spongy part slowly came higher and higher in the pedal travel until it was gone. At that time I retorqued the check valve fully closed, and tried it with my foot for the first time. The entire time I bled the system was by hand.

Nice and hard the WHOLE way, start to finish. Took me all of 25 minutes start to finish, and it was my first time.

Hope this novel helps someone, but with the Tick speed bleeder, there's no reason to bench bleed anything at all

 

In my particular instance I think the air was more in the slave than the master. This process worked very well and IMO is very easy to read and understand even for a beginner.

 

I'm glad that this is so helpful to you guys, I really think this should be a sticky HINT HINT Mods!!!

Seriously, everyone who reads this bleed your clutch this way as it is the best way to bleed the system to ENSURE NO AIR IS LEFT AND YOU DON'T HAVE ISSUES!!!!

I really don't like the mity vac deals as I think they aren't as thorough as bleeding the system the way Dr. Whigham and Fly Boy have done. Just from their results, I don't know why you'd bleed it any other way.

 

Very good info. When my car was six speed and even when I was working on the other six speed cars (when Tick first came out with master cylinder) I know I was one of the 10,000 callers. LMAO!!!!

I'll have to try Dr. Whigham's way next time, I think I may like that way a little better.

Definately sticky worthy, IMHO. Every guy around here that has a six speed usually has problems until they bleed it properly. My car went through countless WOT shifts at 7,300 RPM (with the Tick MC) and the only problem I had was keeping everything else together. LMAO!!!

Thanks for the write ups guys, I'm sure they will help alot of guys out.

 

Sticky time.

 

No problem man! The reason I'm here is to help the guys that call in to our shop with these kinds of issues so it's not a problem. This being a sticky now will really help guys out I'm sure!
Thank you kind sir!

 

Sweet, hopefully this'll save someone a headache.

 

Thanks for the write up and sticky. I will be doing this in the spring.

 

i did my initial bleed this way and it works great! having never even driven a six speed ls1 car and going to a t56 with a monster lvl3 and a tick master, i must say, it's pretty awesome!

 

Good to hear Matt, glad you like it!

 

I will be trying this to see if this alleviates my issues before buying a new clutch setup. I don't think I got all the air out completely bench bleeding it.

 

Air always seems to find a way in...it definitely costs less to do this than buying a whole new clutch.

 

I think you're going to find that once you bleed it this way, you will begin to love your car again!

I've had so many customers call in to the shop just exasperated, frustrated and sometimes even a little pissed off. I can understand the pissed off part because a lot of guys buy our master cylinder in hopes that it alleviates this "mystery" of why they cannot shift quickly and enjoy their car the way it was meant to be enjoyed. They just spent 325 bucks on something that in their eyes at the time isn't the fix they were told it was and are beginning to think they were hoodwinked.

A lot of times they are very skeptical that bleeding the clutch again as many of them have probably bled their clutches enough to fill up a gallon jug of milk with brake fluid and are thinking, "how in the hell is bleeding it again going to make this any better"?

After walking them through it and getting them to muster up the courage to try it one more time, they do it. Normally if a customer doesn't call back it means that the problem was solved or they got so fed up they just won't call back. I would say 75% of the time after linking them to this thread, that they have called back to the shop just to tell me that everything works the way it should after bleeding it this way!!! It is really cool to have a customer call back and tell you that what you told them solved all of their issues!

 

True, true, and TRUE!!

I can't stress enough how important it really is to strictly bleed that inch of "moosh" you get. It makes a WORLD of difference.

 

Mhmmm mhmmm mhmmm