I could use some fresh eyes on this. I've got close to 6 hours bleeding the clutch hydraulics and I cannot get the pedal to firm up. I've done several late model F-Body clutches in the past, and never got my *** kicked like this.

'00 Firebird
New Centerforce DYAC clutch/flywheel
New OEM Master w/ drill mod
New OEM Slave cylinder
New Tick remote bleeder
Tick slave shims installed, all measurements confirmed with Tick on the phone

Reservoir topped off through all of this.

Begin bleeding the system, 5 pumps, hold down, crack the bleeder, tighten just before the stream stops. After 30 minutes of bleeding, the pedal is spongy and clutch will not disengage.

Checked the system for leaks, no leaks.

Continue to bleed, same procedure as before, got a little air out. But still have a spongy pedal and clutch will not disengage.

Another 30 minutes, this time, rapidly pump the pedal 5-10 times, crack the bleeder, pedal down and hold, close the bleeder. No air, spongy pedal, clutch will not disengage.

Spent a few hours with a MityVac. First, allowed system to gravity bleed about half a bottle of fluid to confirm fluid flow from master reservoir through the entire system. Then used the MityVac to pull 3/4 of a bottle of fluid through the remote bleeder out to the master reservoir. We got a little more air out this time. We repeated this effort twice ensuring no air was introduced to the system. On the third pass, there were no more air bubbles. Test the clutch, spongy pedal, clutch will disengage when fully depressed and held for about a second. When releasing the pedal, the clutch engages right off the floor.

Next up, spent another hour bleeding, 5 pumps, pedal down and hold, crack, tighten, no air, pedal does not improve.

Latest effort, pedal down, count one one-thousand, pedal up, repeat 10 times, pedal down and hold, crack and close. We got a lot of air out the first 15 times we did this. The last 5 no air. The pedal is still spongy, but the clutch will disengage when on the floor. Clutch engages with the pedal about 1/8" off the floor.

Any ideas? We've put 4 bottles of fluid through the system, and haven't found any fluid leaks.

 

unless your new MC or slave is bad out of box...you still have air in the system. The angle the MC is mounted if the reservoir feed line is not at the highest point the air can't get out.

I had no luck with a Mighty Vac also.

maybe someone can respond as to another way/method to bleed that works better

 

Thanks ******

Forgot to mention I bench bled the master.

 

I would start the process over. Start by pulling the bleeder line under the car. Then disconnect the master at the quick connect. Have someone get in the car while you are under the car for the bleeding process. You will need a punch or straight screw driver to open the valve in the quick connect fitting. Push the valve in the line open and have the person in the car push the pedal to the floor. Once the pedal is on the floor close the valve and then return the pedal to the top. Repeat this process until there is a nice flow of fluid coming from the line. Only do about 3 pumps before checking the fluid level. Once you have a good flow of fluid plug the line into the slave. Now with the bleeder line "under the car" you can crack the bleeder loose and pump the pedal until you have a good fluid flow. Once the fluid flow is good coming from the bleeder you can tighten it up, pump the pedal a few times and your good. This is the process i always use and it takes me about 5 minutes every time.

 

Thanks Matt 👍

 

I'll have to give that a shot too. I would have to pump the heck out of the pedal, bleed, let it sit for awhile and repeat. Eventually got the pedal to get really stiff, but it engages very close to the floor.

 

Pumping the pedal then holding it down dose not really do much. That works with brakes because there is resistance that can hold pressure (pad against the rotor) With a clutch there is resistance but like that in a brake system. I figured out a long time ago the pump and hold method is not the thing to do.

 

@Matt - y'all open tomorrow? ? ?

We put the car up on the lift, ran through your procedure and we got nothing but clean fluid out of the system, no air. Started up the engine, transmission in neutral, and the tires were rolling. Rolling slow, but rolling..... Now the clutch won't disengage enough to get into gear when the engine is running. But, the clutch pedal did firm up.

 

Take the car off of the lift and see how it does. If it is still hard to get into gear you really need an adjustable master cylinder.

 

Turned out the new OEM master was bad. We found it was seeping fluid at the secondary seal.

Replaced with Tick adjustable master, problem solved. Bench bled per Matts procedure and had all the air out in 3 pumps. Found the Tick master to be a lot easier to install than OEM.

 

well long story short car got swapped like 3 months ago and got installed ls7 clutch with ram aluminum flywheel was running good till today it didn’t wanna go into gear while car being on i just installed a fast 102 lsxr last night but it was idling and shifting good till today when i try to put car in gear won’t go in and it’ll start rolling by its self crazy thing was i went to the store and when i came out it didn’t let me put it in gear nomore clutch still feels good and firm any ideas what could of caused it or maybe its time for a tick adjustable master cylinder?