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I have a 2002 Civic EX 5 speed. Gears were starting to get difficult to change, peeked at the slave and it was wet, decided to replace slave and master together. Little cursing here and there while trying to get that master out behind the strut tower (PIA location) anyways. Clutch sinks to the floor like normal when you open the system. Put the two parts on, sealed the system put fluid in the reservoir, vacuum bleed the system, finally got fluid coming out, checked for leaks and saw none was present. Kept vacuum bleeding the system and about 2 reservoirs full I am still getting air, and the clutch pedal has not changed, still sinks to the floor as if its not connected. Double checked everything and nothing seems to be leaking or disconnected. Am I doing something wrong here? Clutch has absolutely no resistance what so ever. I'm pretty sure fluid is going through the master and to the slave because I am getting fluid. But the clutch pedal never changed, I don't think its possible to have that much air in the system is it? I have also tried pumping the pedal with the system sealed (cap on res also) almost 200 times and no difference in the pedal. And I did NOT bench bleed. Any help would be appreciated.

 
Rep Power: 223

Others have said the clutch is really difficult to bleed in these Civics. Try pulling the slave off the trans and getting it up as high as possible while bleeding. Having a helper push the clutch while you're working the bleed screw seems to work better than using a vacuum pump. Vacuum pumps will suck air through the bleed screw threads when it's loosened.

 
Rep Power: 242

Yes they are a big PITA to bleed for some reason. Try without the vacuum pump and get a helper. Make sure the hose that is on the bleeder is long enough to get to the catch container and be completely submerged in fluid.

Helper pump pedal and hold
You crack the bleeder for a few seconds
Helper pump and hold
You crack bleeder for a few seconds.

There are a few different methods and I can't remember which one worked the best on the 7th gen, it's been a while.

 
Rep Power: 209

You may want to try gravity-bleeding both clutch cylinders.

Also, if you have to pump the clutch pedal don't push all the way down to the floor past it's (clutch piston) normal operational length of travel. Doing so can possibly cause leaks in the cylinder.

 
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So im having Similar issues, did engine swap (stock swap)
all was good before, so with old stuff in it wouldnt fully disengage the clutch (pedal all the way down) will not shift into gear while running
so i bled it for about 3 days then i decided to swap in new slave and new clutch master cylinder
fast forward 10+ hours and im in same boat, iv used vacuum pump, reverse pumping fluid in, and iv let its sit for 3 hours gravity bleeding, did slow pumping with the pedal witha friend, i tried the stated above pull the slave off and hold it higher to see if that worked and it didn't still acts the same
Also the clutch is maybe 8 months old it still looked good
im lost never have i ever had so much problems with a clutch hydraulic
am i missing something

 
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Did you end up finding a solution? As I feel that i may potentially end up being in your situation trying to bleed my clutch.

 
Rep Power: 223

Did you try doing anything that was mentioned above?

 
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I'll try holding the brand new slave cylinder as high as i can with a hose submerged in brake fluid tomorrow. I didnt replace the master cylinder yet. The clutch worked great before I took apart the transmission. I'll update tomorrow

 
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ok, so I went and got a vacuum pump. Stuck the white clear tubing on the bleeder valve, it kept leaking air pressure so I had to stick a zip tie on tubing to bleeder valve to block air flow. After pumping, releasing the valve, pumping releasing the valve about 400 times it gave the clutch enough pressure to fling back up if I held it down. Before, I was getting near zero play, zero pressure. This is still not good enough, but I'll see about getting a helper tomorrow and trying the valve off and on method and hope that theres now enough pressure to bleed out the remaining air.

This has been a ridiculous process. I'm not impressed at all as to how hard this has been. There was nothing wrong with it before, I just had to bleed it initially to take apart the transmission. WILL UPDATE TOMORROW

 
Rep Power: 228

Really easy and fast method

-leave the box end of a wrench around the bleeder
-place a clear hose on the bleeder, with a zapstrap if needed; this hose runs into a bottle to catch fluid and prevent air intake.

-yell to a friend, "pump", at this point they pump 3 times.
-on the third pump they yell, "hold", as they hold the clutch pedal down.

-at this point you open the bleeder a crack, for 1 second, then tighten it back up.

-repeat and top up res. Until no more bubbles are seen

total process should take maybe 5 minutes

 
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I did this, several times.for 15 minutes at a time. It didnt work. So frustrating. What seemed to create a little bit of pressure was clamping the flexible line closed and then pumping down the clutch all the way to the floor and then releasing the clamp. I watched a guy do that on youtube. and it gave me enough play that at-least the clutch would pop back up. The slave cylinder bleeds fine. When I open the bleeder valve, it squirts out. I really wanted to avoid buying a Master Cylinder but do you think its the problem?

 
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Today I'll be buying a clutch master cylinder and dropping another 40$ to see if it resolves the issue. Hoping this fixes the problem. Otherwise, may just use my honda as a burning prop in a music video. Will Update.

 
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Installed the new clutch master cylinder, tried the vacuum pump method, helper method, lifting the slave cylinder up as high as possible while using a vacuum pump method, pinching the hydraulic line to force pressure method...definitely feel defeated at the moment. Cant find any leaks, replaced both major components. I think I can say bleeding a clutch was just as hard as taking out a transmission and disassembling it except I actually fixed the transmission.

 
Rep Power: 125

F9 might be needing some explosion cars lol

The only guess I'd have is that one of the new components is faulty. Where did you buy them?

 
Rep Power: 242

That's my thinking at this point.

Yeah the 7th gen clutch is a bitch to bleed but not like that.

 
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I feel like I'm instantly gonna get bombarded if I say it...eBay. I bought the slave cylinder from eBay and the Master from O'reily. The thing is, all these components worked before I took out the transmission. And now that I've got it tucked back in place, it doesnt want to work anymore.

 
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getting that clutch master cylinder out and back in was hell. Definitely not a fun experience.

 
Rep Power: 125

*Gets instantly bombarded for saying eBay*

Did it say the manufacturer? eBay sells both genuine parts and crap knockoffs. O'Reilly's is fine.

 
Rep Power: 223

It still doesn't make sense that everything worked before. I can think of four scenarios:

-Either master or slave were damaged during removal which is why you couldn't get it to work after. This would mean one of the new parts you replaced it with is also defective giving you the same results.
-You are still not doing the clutch bleeding correctly. I've done it twice on my car and it was a ~5 minute process with a helper. Helper pushes clutch, open bleed valve for a second, close bleed valve, helper releases clutch and pulls it up if necessary, pumps it, repeat.
-You damaged something other than the master or slave during transmission removal. Maybe clutch line is pinched or blocked somewhere? Accidentally pinched a hard line closed?
-Something is installed incorrectly. Slave, throwout arm, throwout bearing, etc.

 
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I'm back, I fell into a depression for 2 days because I turned the car on and got locked out of 1st and 2nd gear after 5 minutes of testing it. I did end up buying a good vacuum pump and i got 50% of pressure back after an hour. Now to figure out the trans again. I took it apart. Thanks for responding guys I really appreciate the info.

 
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Maybe its the new slave cylinder I bought off ebay. its a cheap knockoff so I'll maybe put the original OEM slave in and see if that does the trick.

 
Rep Power: 223

Let me tell you, working on cars can be extremely frustrating at times. Every quick fix is one broken or stripped bolt away from a week long ordeal, and on a 15-20 year old car that happens often. Sometimes stepping back and taking a break can be the best course of action. Think of the positives too, you're likely learning quite a bit from this experience and will be better suited the next time a project comes up.

Keep us updated with what you find.

 
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Hey guys its been a bit but here is the update! Between vacuum pumping, clamping the hose down, and putting a piece of pipe in between the transmission and clutch fork (to build more pressure) I ended up getting the clutch to semi-work but when I had that pipe in between those two points, I applied so much pressure trying to force the clutch to the floor that it suddenly popped to the floor and then I had about an 3/4" of dead play after that. BUT IT WORKED after all that work of about 2 hours!

So, I bought another clutch master cylinder, installed it. Swapped the old slave cylinder on (that worked prior to taking it apart to get the transmission out)...and I'm running into the exact same scenario. It blows my mind that its a simple system yet...this has been very complicated. I ran my hand through the whole line to see if there were any dents or pinches from the transmission work and couldnt find anything. Maybe I'm just really unfortunate and both of my slave cylinders that I've tested are bad.

So my guess is my Honda produces Gallstones and something is blocked up. At this point I feel like I need a medical professional for that and my sanity. I'll be back at it tomorrow.

 
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My new Plan of attack.

• Request another Slave Cylinder to try (maybe both are bad).
• Check the clutch line screws
• take apart the line piece by piece and run air through it to see if there are any clogs or leaks.

I dont care if it takes 10 minutes or 10 years. Now I'm determined to find out why this isn't working optimally. I pumped it about 1000 times today, with a rubber hose attached to the slave leading into a bottle submerged in DOT 3 brake fluid. Hardly any different, yet! The hydraulic line is very firm meaning that there is a significant amount of fluid inside of it. I'll order another slave cylinder today.

 
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So I took apart the clutch lines piece by piece. Put my mouth on one end and finger on the other, air tight. Which means zero leaks. The lines are good. That leads me to only two things.

• Bad Slave Cylinder (ordered it off eBay, Exedy brand. Really wish I didnt now)
• Really bad design from Honda, need to pump 10000 more times.

I will find out soon as to which it is.

 
Rep Power: 221

Little bit of column A little bit of column B.
excedy is usually a good brand, maybe you bought a counterfeit part

 
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I dont know if I'm allowed to post links on here or not but its sold by PartsGeek which seems semi-reputable. I just looked at autozone and they want 74$ before tax so now I remember why i gave this part a go.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-2001-20...72.m2749.l2649

 
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I use a long clear plastic tube, emptied clear plastic bottle (12oz), nylon ties and Telfon tape. One man operates. Hydraulic line is good that took me about 45 minutes. Oh damn I’m an old man. The bottle must rise higher close to the hatch of a hood, tie bottle, two drilled holed on the bottle cap for tube insert inside and leave small hole for vent. The end of the clear tube should insert to the bottom of the bottle. Cut 1” inch of telfon tape, cut half, aside 2 stripes. Remove bleeder screw, wipe threaded screw, tape one strip of telfon tape no touch on coned tip, re install, connect tube. Fill fluid as necessary. Slow pump pedal with my hand, watch bubbles, observed fluid level as continue to pumping very slow forward and wait few seconds then pull a pedal slow backward as repeating until full fluid visual in the clear tube. ( Make sure taped bleeder screw is good tightly, won’t leak during bleeding) Done, sweet soft clutch like a brand new, sold it last weeks ago 😞

 
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I may try this technique, thank you.

 
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Spent another 3 hours and now its midnight. I tried it all...I lifted the slave above everything with a tube on the bleeder screw put to a bottle fully submerged in brake fluid. I pumped probably around 1000 times in 5-15 pumps just to get any pressure....at all.

Then I tried a technique where you go backwards, I pressed the piston on the slave down hoping I could get the air out on the clutch master cylinder. I didnt see a single bubble rise in the reservoir.

I clamped the rubber line with vice grips hoping that would be enough pressure to push out any air out of the master cylinder. Didnt work.

I did see a little drip come out of the hard line that does a u turn and converts to the rubber line. I just want to curse because I've been at this for NEARLY 2 MONTHS. One of the stupidest things I've been screwing around with. Time to look for a mechanic.