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So what's the secret for bleeding a new clutch master cylinder?


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make sure the blleed screw on the slave is at the top, otherwise you'll never get it to bleed/work. or

from tech archive thread ---

fill the reservoir. place a rag around the bottom of the pipe union, get someone to sit in the truck, udo the pipe union a few turns and get them to press the clutch pedal down. While it's down, re-tighten the pipe union and get them to pull the pedal back up, repeat this a few times until clear fluid comes out and soaks into the rag. Once there is no more air in the system, it will be noticeable by the feel of the clutch. If this method doesn't work, then you may need to bleed the system down on the slave cylinder bleed nipple.

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Worth a try back-bleeding if the above doesn't work. Get a small squirty oil can with a piece of windscreen washer pipe over the end. Open the bleed nipple on the slave clyinder, put the other end of the washer pipe onto the nippe and pump the oil can 5-10 times, this pushes the air in the system into the master cylinder allwoing it to escape. Then try bleeding it normally.

Beware :excl: the master cylinder can overflow when doing this and brake fluid eats paintwork. Also when laid underneath, dont get the brake fluid in your face as it stings your eyes and doesn't taste nice.....

The joys of midnight darkness and a carp torch.

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...ready to be shot down here....after fitting my master cylinder i called mrs early90 to help, 5 mins later divorce pending she`s back indoors. The pedal was soft but would get hard after two or three pumps so i could use the truck untill i had time to sort it,so i did and found the clutch getting better so i sat in it and pumped away untill it bled itself!! I do not understand it but it worked for me and i`ve since heard from one of the South African guys on LRa that he does this all the time!

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The clutch does self-bleed and this is how I do mine everytime I replace the fluid, on average I alllow about 10-minutes to drain & bleed-through.

What Western says is correct, if you have the slave cylinder upside down you will never get it to work properly.

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IIRC my old Morris Ital used to have a similar clutch hydraulic system, but instead of the bleed screw on the slave cylinder, it had another pipe coming back up to the cam cover & a bracket that held the other end of the pipe with a bleed screw at the top, so clutch bleeding was very easy, no need to get underneath to open/close bleed screws.

might be worth looking into doing a similar thing on 90/110's.

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Bleed it as best you can then drive it. Within a short time it'll be it's old self again :) I've never got it to feel right through just bleeding but it seems to sort itself out and the pedal feel returns after a bit of driving.

HTH

Mo

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I bled the system this morning using a vizibleed from halfords. it's a clear tube with a valve at the end so that there is no need to keep closing the nipple. BUT I still can't get the thing into gear. I spent ages yesterday replacing the master cylinder on my td5 - the original one leaked down the clutch pedal for a few weeks, then last week I couldn't get it into gear. The clutch pedal is firm and I've made sure that the pipe work is tight. The master doesn't make any sucking noises and the system seemed to bleed properly. Any suggestions?

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On the original the two locked nuts were all the way down the threads. I tried the new cylinder with the nuts on the rod at the same point at first, and when it didn't work, moved them further along so that the rod would move in more when the pedal was depressed.

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One successful test run later. Thanks Western. I slackened everything off and moved the two nuts to where push rod met the top of the clutch pedal when it was at rest and tightened up - and it worked. I had set it where it was on the original, but i can see why it should be where it is now. I did have quite a job to tighten the two nuts to lock them. A nylock nut would have been much better. There's no way I'm taking the cylinder out to put one on after all the mither I've had though.

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Easy way to bleed...

1. Fit hose to slave but don't bolt to bellhousing.

2. Bolt a piece of steel bar across front end of slave using the 2 mounting holes.

3. Let slave dangle from hose so that its vertical.

4. Fill master and bleed slave - bar stops cylinder flying out.

5. Once bled remove bar and fit slave to bellhousing.

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...ready to be shot down here....after fitting my master cylinder i called mrs early90 to help, 5 mins later divorce pending she`s back indoors. The pedal was soft but would get hard after two or three pumps so i could use the truck untill i had time to sort it,so i did and found the clutch getting better so i sat in it and pumped away untill it bled itself!! I do not understand it but it worked for me and i`ve since heard from one of the South African guys on LRa that he does this all the time!

Now I'm a South African guy on LR4x4! I didn't believe this when it was first said to me, but I have done it and it works! I tried and tried to bleed the system, but it was difficult on my own, even though I have a special thingy to hold the pedal to the floor.

So I lost my temper a bit and pumped the pedal, and it bled itself. :blink:

Yes, getting the better half to pump the pedal is not a great idea. :(

ps. I was born in England, but after 30 years here I suppose I am a Setthrican. :P

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Now I'm a South African guy on LR4x4! I didn't believe this when it was first said to me, but I have done it and it works! I tried and tried to bleed the system, but it was difficult on my own, even though I have a special thingy to hold the pedal to the floor.

So I lost my temper a bit and pumped the pedal, and it bled itself. :blink:

Yes, getting the better half to pump the pedal is not a great idea. :(

ps. I was born in England, but after 30 years here I suppose I am a Setthrican. :P

Hi Jim, there`s a guy just like you on LRa :o

:rolleyes: sorry, i thought it might be you but was not sure...err...

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