2001 Trans Am 6 months old new parts. New master, slave, clutch, flywheel, pressure plate. Did the drill mod, fun to line up the bolts to the holes replacing it. When bleeding. I've tryed many ways on this. 1st off. I use a rubber hose, pushed into the hole on the slave. I cut the access hole inside the car thru the sheet metal on the tunnel. I made up a deep well 7/16 socket & welded a 3 inch rod on the side near the top end to act as a turn bar. To open & close the bleeder. Rubber hose fits thru the center of the socket. I've tryed the basic, open bleeder, push the petal down,wait till the fluid slows down out the other end of the hose into a jar to catch it. Close bleeded, pull up petal. Replenish master. Do it again & again. Till I get a good petal. Have also tryed the vacume pump & have a kit with the catch can. Feed is from the same hose pushed into the hole on the slaves bleeder. I can bleed it ok, engine off. Then when I start the car. the petal goes down about 2 inches before it seems to hit pressure. I've bled it with the engine running to see if that will help. I get a good petal, but it goes down after a while. Why would the petal go down with the engine running when I had a good petal. Bleeding it with the engine off? Then try bleeding it running & good petal. Dosen't last. I've ben told to raise the rear end up, did this. Am I missing something? Not enough bleeding done? The petal adjustment? When it engauges. Petal to the floor. It engauges, when brought up. About 2 inches from the floor & think this is ok. Clutch grabs fine, no slipping. Drill mod helped a lot on the feel on releasing it. Thoughts? Dave

 

The engine on or off has nothing to do with the bleed. What you want to do is pump and hold the pedal, crank the bleeder, close the bleeder, then release the pedal and repeat.

You dont need that whole hose setup on the bleeder, the fluid will drain out of the hole in the bottom of the bellhousing.

 

Hi, Thank You. I'm going to try it that way today. I use the hose to catch the fluid so I don't have to clean up the puddle under it later. On the concrete. I'ts been stumping me on the engine off & on thing. Didn't think it mattered. Just didn't know why the change with it running. Thought something internal on the slave was diffrent engine running. More bleeding. Big bottle of new fluid to run thru the system again. Dave

 

Hi, Well we bled it again. Engine off. Did both ways. Pump the petal, open the bleeder. Open the bleeder & push the petal down. Always closed the bleeder before we pulled up the petal. Also found if I " Tickeled" the petal. Just tap the petal, bleed closed. I had a few air bubbles come up thru the resiviour. Kept it up till no more came up. Ran a big bottle of fluid thru it. No air in the clear rubber line showing. Still kept bleeding to make shure. Good petal, right at the top to bottom. Start it up, same thing on the petal dropping down about 2 inches before I feel pressure. Now I'm beginning to wonder if the stock master has to be adjusted on travel. If it can be. Might not be letting the innards of the master return to full return. If thats even the problem. Went to the library & accessed All-Data. Shows an updated bleeding, how to. Says to use a mighty vac & J 43485 adapter. Bulletin 01-07-31-002A Dave

 

Dont use a vacuum pump to bleed, it is known to damage the seals in the master. BTW the stock master is not adjustable.

 

+1, do not use the vaccum pump. I messes **** up.

Drive the car and see if the pedal builds pressure up top.

My pedal does the same thing. It has about 2 inches of play, then it doesnt, then it does again. It fluctuates since it is a hydraulic clutch.

You said your slave is new?

 

Hi, New everything. GM Master, RAM slave, SLP Clutch kit with a new flywheel. Soup to nuts. I did try using the vacume pump before. All I saw is a bunch of air & fluid on flow thru the clear line. Couldn't tell if air was getting out of the system or not. Thought it's drawing air past the threads on the bleader. Today, did it the old fashoned way with out any vacume pump. Since the last post, we bled it again. No air comming thru the system. Your right on fluctuating. His is doing it. Sometimes ok & sometimes not. It's the "not" part I was concerened about. Turn the engine back off, petal is great again. Just wierd to me it does that. Dave

 

Im all out of ideas bro.

If you have ALL NEW hydraulic clutch components, theres nothing else it could be.

 

Hi, Update on it. It was the master. If I listened real close when pushing down the petal. I could hear a soft queeking? noise from the master. Isn't leaking fluid. Think it was bypassing fluid past the inner seal to push fluid thru the line to the slave or drawing air into it somehow. Taking it apart later & if I find something, I'll post a pic. Brand new master from GM. 6 months old. (They have only a 2 month warr on it.) Son has a friend that owns the same year Trans Am. Bought new hydrolics, master-slave for his car. Replaced only the slave on his a year ago & didn't need the master. Son bought it from him. Ram adjustable type. Bench bled held in a vice. 1st. 2 ppl to do. Used a screwdriver to hold the pin in on the quick connect with the end held higher than the master. Jar at the end to catch the fluid. Push the pin in, then push the masters rod in, let up on the pin before you let the rod return to normal. Works pretty well. ( For info, when done. Turn the master 180 deg. That J in the hose from the resivour held a big air bubble. Turn it 180 & you can watch the bubble come up into the resivour. ) Connect things up & the slave bleeds farly quickly. Is there a stop for full release petal travel? I have it adjusted fairly well on the shaft. If I adjust the petal to get close to the floor on pushing it in. Clutch engauges about 2 inches off the floor, but then I get 2 inches of travel down before it hits pressure. Clutch foot petal is 2 inches higher than the brake petal now. If I lenghen the rod, the slack gets taken up top & feel pressure 3/4 to 1 inch pushing it down. But then the petals arm dosen't go all the way down, close to the floor like it did before. I ordered a new master not knowing what the son was doing. I bought one from Advanced Auto Parts. A parts chain. Very very resonable if anyone wants to look one up. Yes, the price listed is what I paid for one. Brand new, not rebuilt. Error on doing it online & had to call the free # to do it. Made by Rabestos, came today. Compared the outside stamps & #'s. They are the same as the factory one. Hmmm. Now that the car is finished he has a spare master for later. Dave

 

I always wondered why Master Cylinders from different 'sources' have the exact same markings and casting numbers?

My master also makes the little squishing sound when I tickle the pedal and I am having a lot of problems with my hydraulic system. Maybe I should just go to the dealer and muy a master.

 

Hi, Wonder the same thing too on #'s. GM Dealer price was quite a bit more when he bought the 1st one that didn't last too long. Thats why I got the new one from where I did. Have a look see on it from where I mentioned. Comments? He just came home after driving it to work. Said doing the drill mod is the way to go, new master is working fine. He re-adjusted the petal again before coming home. Tells me. He went from 2nd to 3rd. He nailed it hard on a up shift comming out of a curve. His back end broke loose big time, lit it up & snaked a little? side to side & almost lost it. Shoved in the clutch to recover. Said it never did that before and caught him by suprize. Hooks up the power really quick & solid now to the rear end when he lets the clutch out. Told him about the posts of sticking in gear on power shifts & rear end replacements. ( Good old dad has to remind him on breaking something big $$$ to fix.) Dave