[Solved] Cant get air to completely bleed from clutch lines!

[vansolrick]

I noticed I was having clutch problems when it wouldn't disengage. I looked it up on the forum and people mentioned that it may be the master and slave cylinders. When I got under the dash and checked around the clutch pedal behind the master cylinder, I noticed a fluid leak coming out of the master cylinder.

I bought a replacement and after the clutch was bled of pressure, I started removing the hydraulic line that connects at the bottom of the cylinder, and realized I ended up rounding off the hex... on both ends. I started at night with a buddy with very little light, and we didn't know we were rounding them off until it was too late. I'm at the point of thinking that I totally screwed myself.

I tried soaking WD-40 on the threads but it didn't seem to help at all. These lines seem to be torqued with a lot of pressure! Either that I'm not doing it right

[Ryan]

you can pick up a scrap yard line, or a SS braided line. Since you're getting a new master anyway... unless you FUBAR-ed the slave end? Don't mess up the slave end.

I picked up a master/slave/line for $20 at the local scrapper.

[vansolrick]

Thanks. I managed to reuse the same line and I installed the master cylinder. I've been working on bleeding the line, however it seems to be taking forever to get a good grip with the clutch pedal. I've gone thru 3/4 of a 32fl oz bottle of brake fluid already and I still have not gotten a stable grab of the clutch.

When bleeding, it seems that there is still air in the line (it sprays and sometimes bubbles before streaming out, or it doesnt stream at all after a second of spraying).

Do I still need to keep bleeding or is it possible that the problem could be the slave cylinder as well? I can see the slave cylinder moving about a CM or more at times, and sometimes after bleeding for a while and testing, it will stop working and I would have to repeat the process for a while before it begins moving and gripping at the pedal again.

I'm not 100% sure if im bleeding correctly. I'm having my friend pump the clutch for a few times (5-10x) and hold it as I bleed at slave cylinder. Then I tighten it, and he lets off the clutch and we repeat over and over.

I was able to test drive the car and drive about 1/8 of a mile before I noticed the clutch failing again (wont move in/out of gear or neutral if in neutral). I think it happens after a while of braking.

[vansolrick]

Ok I got a hold of a small clear hose to monitor bubbles from the bleeder valve on the slave cylinder. It seems that after 10-15 more minutes of bleeding, the bubbles just keep coming out. There are large bubbles and even small bubbles similar to the ones in a glass of sparkling champagne lol. It's almost as if there is either a LOT of air in the system, or a leak. However, I checked the lines and I don't see any leaks.

My last thought is that my slave cylinder may also be bad, and that it is somehow getting air in under the boot. Is this possible?

UPDATE: Yeah It seems to be giving off an endless amount of air. I just picked up a rebuild kit for the slave cylinder and I'm going to work on it either tonight or tomorrow. Hope this is the problem. If it is, I'm suprised both my slave and master cyl went at the same time. I guess it's a good thing.. in a way.

[vansolrick]

Ok sure enough it was the slave cylinder.

I took it out and the o-ring was pretty fubar'd. I got a rebuild kit from AutoZone for 6.99 and repaired my slave cyl. Funny thing is that they were the only carrier that had it in stock in town, and they only had 1 in stock!

I bleed out the air and the bleeding process literally only took about 8 minutes this time with my friend. Clutch engages just fine. I might try bleeding it a little more later on just in case but the pressure is all there, and it's better than it was when I first got the car!