TheSnicklefritz

Hey everyone, just got an 05 civic ex over a month ago and while driving it last week the slave went out, or so I figured. Pedal went straight to floor, so after a new slave I bled it out and pedal became super stiff, and clutch would not disengage even if pedal was on the ground. I tried bleeding again and it went from being super stiff to going back to the floor with no resistance. Master seems fine as there is no obvious leakage, and it doesn't look like anything blew out of the new slave, so I'm guessing it's pulling air from elsewhere. Albeit the current problem, why went wrong after the new slave that caused such a stiff pedal? The clutch seemed fine before any of this happened, so I refuse to think the clutch is suddenly super worn or bad. Upon changing the slave I did go from no pressure to way too much, so in a sense the slave was at least doing something, considering the old one was bone dry when removes. I adjusted the pedal too, to no avail before blowing the pressure out again. Help?

mikey1

bleeding can take quite some time, you could still have air,

how much fluid have you put in so far?

Mad Dog Tannen

If it is not leaking any fluid, then you have a bad Master cylinder seal.

If it is leaking, well it's a leak lol

ezone

The master cylinder may be fine. Get this bled out correctly before tossing parts at it again.

The clutch hydraulic system can be a tough SOB to get bled out properly.
Air tends to stay trapped in the high parts of the clutch system and does NOT want to exit through the bleeder down low.

Mad Dog Tannen

True, I was assuming the bleeding was done properly.

TheSnicklefritz

Hey Mike my bad, just got off of work. Probably used an entire bottle, the standard size around 10 oz, not the big boy. I'd say I probably pumped the clutch like 30 times before it stopped bleeding air out and was straight fluid. But the pressure went from being really weak to being hard as ***** to compress the clutch, the suddeness of it really threw me off. I considered the possibility of just buying a bum slave, nothing seemed wrong with it though, when I inserted the piston into the boot of the slave it compressed by hand smoothly, didn't feel like it was catching anything :/

TheSnicklefritz

Well that's what I had tried after the pedal became really stiff, before it lost all pressure and possibly ruined the slave again lol .Man this couldn't be more of a headache! I'll have try again Friday after I get paid but I really appreciate the help guys, if anyone has a stray hunch please drop a line on here, any and all help is appreciated!

ezone

I didn't follow this part....Can you describe more about what happened here?

Pedal was falling to the floor with little or no resistance because it had air trapped in it, then you finally got it bled out and now the pedal is harder to push down than it should be? Or what?


Paint the picture in my mind please.

TheSnicklefritz

Yeah absolutelty man. So after installing new slave, time to bleed. Opened valve a tad, and my brother poured the fluid in while I pumped. So while pumping the clutch he was keeping me posted on the amount of air/fluid coming out the valve, and after a few pumps of straight fluid, before I had a chance to tell him to close the bleeder, that is when the pressure built up at the pedal. The next day we bled it again and that's when I lost pressure at the pedal again (mind you even trying to pump the clutch with reservoir cap off and bleeder valve open, the pressure was still there, until the sudden loss of pressure). Funky right?

ezone

Pumping the pedal with the bleeder open can allow air to go back in when you lift the pedal up. Bleeder should get closed before lifting the pedal...

Helper needs to know how to do bleeding too.... If helper doesn't know all about it, I'd say put him inside the car to pump the pedal on command.

Got 2 ideas here.....

One idea is to stick your bottle of brake fluid upside down in the top of the reservoir, that way it will keep the little sucker full for a long while as you bleed. (assuming it will fit)

Another idea to purge trapped air bubbles is to open the bleeder screw then hold your finger on it firmly so it acts like a check valve (lets fluid out but won't let air in),
Then have the helper pump the pedal several times in a row until the air is out, then you can close bleeder screw and do a couple more pumps and bleeds the normal way just to make sure it's all done.. Hopefully you would have decent pedal again by now.


Then you should be able to watch the slave pushrod and throwout arm move when the pedal is pumped.

If you push the pedal down and it feels normal, the slave pushrod comes out, then slowly sinks back in after a few seconds, that would be a bad master. Also look for leakage evidence down the interior firewall and carpet.

mikey1

you need to shut the bleeder valve before you release the pedal,

- open bleeder valve
- push pedal to the floor
- close bleeder valve
- release the pedal

repeat, repeat, repeat,

and keep making sure its full of fluid, add as nessessary

Mad Dog Tannen

a clear tube is best to make sure no bubbles, and it can get sucked back in without sucking in air.

TheSnicklefritz

Okay cool yeah, I'm gonna do the bleeding and have someone else work the clutch, was kinda skeptical myself as well haha. Thanks guys, gonna give it a whirl tomorrow morning!

maxtierney

iTrader: (5)

Once you have most of the air bubbles out, just push from the slave side. It will get rid of any remaining bubbles trapped in the line and/or master cylinder. Learned this trick a few years ago. I've changed a few master and slave cylinders, because of my race setup (at least once a year). So often, in fact, a slave change only takes 15 minutes and a master in 45 minutes or so. Good luck.