Rep Power: 0

Honda 2004 Civic LX 100300 miles.
I just changed the master and slave cylinders on the clutch. I managed to get everything back together. Now I can't bleed the system. We started with the ol' pump-the-pedal-20-times, then vent the line into a jar. No fluid left the reservoir.
I got a vacuum pump to suck fluid through to the slave. Nothing comes out. (No fluid left the reservoir again.)
In desperation, I used a garden sprayer to pump fluid (using the vacuum jar & hoses in reverse right at the reservoir). I don't seem to even be able to push fluid through. What did I miss/do wrong/forget?

 
Rep Power: 297

Ive never had the problem you having but and I have blead mine several times. My stage 5 clutch kept breaking slave cyl cause of the pressure.

Try sucking it through the slave again while pumping the peddle. Some times it can take some time to get the clutch master filled enought to start the pumping process.

Good luck.

 
Rep Power: 0

Chief, Thanks for the reply. When I used the vacuum, I could see the clutch pedal had a "microscopic" effect - as the vacuum gauge slowly went down, pumping the pedal made a tiny pause for each pump. But I was watching the reservoir, and the level never went down, meaning no fluid ever went into the system.

 
Rep Power: 297

Man I cant think of any reason why this would happen unless there is a clog somewhere in the system. Only thing I can think to do is to check all the lines for clogs, pull off the slave cyl line and try pulling the fluid though the tine with the suction pump. If it still wont more that narrows your problem to the resevior and the master cly. Then do the same to the feed tube comming from the resevior. If thats good then leave you to the mas cyl. try pulling it off and pumping it by hand to see if its working properly. You might also try filling it with fluid before you put it back on.

Hope you get it figured out. I know how much a pain stuff like this can be when simple things dont work right.

 
Rep Power: 0

And getting to the master cylinder is not easy! It's in a corner of the engine compartment behind the left wheel well and the brake power assist cylinder. Installed, I can just see the clutch line come out of the cylinder if I hold my light just right and look just right. Ain't no fun going in there!

 
Rep Power: 214

I have bleed mine a couple of times and they are not easy at some times. Sometimes they like to be a pain and it takes a good while to get the air out. What I have had to do is put the fluid in and pump the slave cylinder for a while till finally it starts barely coming out cause it wont work with the clutch pedal cause it just drops and wont come back so it has no pressure to push the fluid through. After using the slave cylinder for a while I can use the clutch pedal. But if none works you might want to check for a block somewhere.

 
Rep Power: 0

@02, OK, no joy here. I manually pumped the slave for a long while, and saw the reservoir level drop maybe 1/16". Gave up on that end, and tried pumping the clutch 400 times by my count. Nothing.
So tomorrow, Monday, it goes to a shop, and I'll let the professionals cuss at it for a while. (I know, cussing costs more, but it'll be worth it. )

 
Rep Power: 0

UPDATE: The shop tells me the (new) master cylinder seals are bad. Well, it's on a lifetime warranty. Short life, I guess.

 
Rep Power: 0

I tried hand pumping and another person pumping the pedal without success. I wound up using a Power Bleeder with the euro attachment. One person held it on to the reservoir to keep the pressure even, the other pumped it to 12 psi and opened the bleeder. Since I use old threads regularly to figure out how to fix things, hopefully this thread necro is forgivable and useful.

 
Rep Power: 125

That’s fine, but you don’t need to post the same comment on 50 threads.

 
Rep Power: 367

he is adding info to the thread, so it is fine for me.