How To Bleed The Clutch

[Colesy]

Thought I'd write a quick guide on how to do this after doing it this weekend with the help of lots of different threads on the forum. This is based on an ABY.

First of all lock the steering over hard right and put it in 6th gear. This makes access much easier.

Then jack up the n/s to get the nipple as high as possible.

Leaning behind radiator the bleed nipple can be found just behind the bolt shown in the attached picture on top of the slave (pic courtesy of another thread). You won't be able to see it but if you have a feel around you'll find a rubber dust cap that comes off with a small tweak with pliers.

Attach the gunsons Eezibleed to the brake fluid reservoir as per the instructions, the kit comes with the correct size cap btw.

You might want a container to catch the brake fluid as it pours out all over the wishbone and floor depending on what pressure you have the gunsons at, I used 20psi as suggested and it worked a treat.

You'll then need a DEEP 11mm socket and ratchet to undo the nipple which unscrews pretty easily, about 1/2 - 3/4 a turn and you should get a good flow of fluid.

I pumped the clutch pedal a few times to make sure all the air came out of the master cylinder while it was bleeding. Keep an eye on the fluid level of the gunsons as it drops pretty quickly. I put through about 2-3 litres just to be sure.

Access to the nipple is quite restricted so getting a spanner in there isn't really an option, so you have to use the socket to do it up, it might be worth having some rag on hand to wipe fluid off the socket so you can get a better grip.

When you've bled enough fluid through, tighten the nipple put the dust cap back on. You should now have a nice light clutch pedal!

[mcandmar]

Good job, no harm in removing that nut for the linkage as it gives a bit more access to the bleed nipple. Yours is one of the more restricted to do with procon and aircon. Airbag cars are much easier to do.

[Fat Audi 80]

Brilliant Colesy!

I have made this a sticky in this section. I meant to have a go at this, but as my clutch pedal problems have disappeared, I have put the job on the back burner!

You make it sound very straight forward...

Cheers,

Steve.

[andy10v]

If you are bleeding this manually is it just done like bleeding a brake caliper? IE push pedal, open nipple, close nipple, pull pedal up, repeat?

I take it brakes and clutch should be done together as they share the same fluid?

[Colesy]

I'm sure I read that due to the master/slave setup it's best to use a pressurised system to ensure you bleed the full clutch system completely. You might be fine using the manual method but to be sure pressurised is the way to go.

I don't think you have to bleed clutch and brakes together as all they share is the reservoir, no other parts link.

[byd1380]

I had a few clutches that wont bleed at all, they just cant seem to draw the fluid through, maybe if you've fitted a new slave cyclinder or flexi pipe. I use a big 50ml syringe and rubber hose filled with fluid and force it backwards through the nipple, i use this for motorbike brakes aswell. Seems to work to get a pedal, then just normal bleeding to get the last of the air out.

Ivan

[spink]

If all else fails just leave the fluid trickling out of the nipple and keep topping up the resevoir,can take over an hour but has worked everytime for me

[Error404]

If you can't get any fluid out your slave when trying to bleed the clutch, read this:
http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthr...servoir+nipple

[andy10v]

Great, thanks for the info guys!

I have not tried to bleed it yet, I got a new aby and the clutch is not working properly so thought I might as well start by bleeding it as the linkage appears ok.

Error's issue was weird.

[andy10v]

Have manually bled it once, and the pedal is now a lot better, bit point has moved to a reasonable place instead of in the floor. I still have some dead travel at the top of the pedal, and when the pedal is released it "thunks" back up.

Before I bleed it again should the adjuster rod be all the way in or out when bleeding?

[rizzono1]

My clutch was a nightmare to bleed using the gunson, In the end I had to reverse bleed to get rid of all the air. Just find its easier to push the air up than it is down. I bought an engineers oil can the one with the thumb pump filled it with clutch fluid then attached a rubber hose from it to the slackend bleed screw and pumped it up till the fluid started to fill the reservoir just close the bleed screw. Would recomend disconecting the reservoir and flushing out all the old oil first.

[rizzono1]

Have manually bled it once, and the pedal is now a lot better, bit point has moved to a reasonable place instead of in the floor. I still have some dead travel at the top of the pedal, and when the pedal is released it "thunks" back up.

Before I bleed it again should the adjuster rod be all the way in or out when bleeding?

When i fitted a new master the pedal was thumping back up till I re-adjusted the rod

[Rusty]

Just out of interest, what was so difficult about it?

[andy10v]

Came across a bit of info when reading the gearbox manual.

Mounting surface of master cylinder to clevis should be 109.5+-0.5mm. Clevis must be at right angles to mounting surface of master cylinder. To adjust turn clevis.

It says if the pedal does not return properly by itself it may be caused by;

Air in the system
Pedal bearing or over centre spring not moving freely

Bleed only with a brake bleeding unit, working pressure 2.5 BAR.

[bini]

Bleeding RS2 clutch

I bled my clutch using the Gunson Bleeding kit
followed the instructions - didn't really need to jack the car up but locking the steering to the right definitely helped.
Worked a treat!!
Thanks