carracr625

I own a 97 Accord EX coupe. When I bought it from a friend, it had a problem with the clutch pedal sinking all the way to the floor. Once on the floor, you have to reach down with your hand to return the pedal to it's upright position. The clutch will not disengage to allow me to change gears while the car is running. Of course I can change gears while the engine is not running. I consulted the Helms manual. There are no leaks in the system that I can see. After some research I figured it had to be either the clutch slave cylinder or the clutch master cylinder. I now have replaced both. I seem to be having a problem bleeding the system. I had a friend inside to pump the pedal, while I'm outside, under the hood, opening & closing the bleeder screw. I open the screw when the pedal is depressed, & close the screw when the pedal is pulled up to the upright position. While doing this, the cylinder is filled w/ fluid. I can see each time the pedal is released the fluid level is decreased by a very small amount. The hose attached to the bleeder screw has barely any fluid escaping. We have done this for over an hour, but the pedal still is sinking all the way to the floor w/o any pressure building up. Please help me to see any possible errors in my technique, or other areas where air could be entering the system.

Intense3.2

Make sure you have the end of the hose that is on the bleeder screw, inside a cup of fluid to ensure that when your are closing/opening it there is no air entering the system.

hondadude

I use a big syringe from the animal store[with tubing attached] to shove fluid from the slave back up to the master, with the clutch pedal down. Then see if you are getting any action.

Duane_in_Japan

Hondadude has a great procedure, I do the opposite, I use a brake bleeder vacuum and suck the fluid down without pushing the pedal, you were also supposed to bench bleed the master cylinder, are you familiar with that procedure. I do a lot of twin plate upgrades and pumping the pedal with your partner doesnt seem to do the trick very often for me, you have to pump very fast with your hand pushing and pulling the pedal back up manually, this worked in the past before I bought the bleeder vacuum. Good luck.

JimBlake

Another thing, if you're pumping the pedal to bleed, don't let it snap up quickly.

Loop a string around the pedal to pull it up smoothly while you control it with your foot. If you let it snap quickly up, it's more likely to pull air in thru the piston shaft seal.

iam7head

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JimBlake &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Another thing, if you're pumping the pedal to bleed, don't let it snap up quickly.

Loop a string around the pedal to pull it up smoothly while you control it with your foot. If you let it snap quickly up, it's more likely to pull air in thru the piston shaft seal.
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Great advice jim, I never use any vaccum or power bleeder for my brake and clutch, make sure you flush it couple of times, alot of particle in the clutch system that needs to be flush out.

carracr625

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Duane_in_Japan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hondadude has a great procedure, I do the opposite, I use a brake bleeder vacuum and suck the fluid down without pushing the pedal, you were also supposed to bench bleed the master cylinder, are you familiar with that procedure. I do a lot of twin plate upgrades and pumping the pedal with your partner doesnt seem to do the trick very often for me, you have to pump very fast with your hand pushing and pulling the pedal back up manually, this worked in the past before I bought the bleeder vacuum. Good luck.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I didn't see anywhere in the Helms manual about bench bleeding the master cylinder. Although after I put it in, and was having trouble bleeding it. My father asked me if I did as well. Do you think I should pull it out again to bench bleed it?

I tried using a mighty vac to pull fluid through from the slave cylinder. It just wouldnt hold a vacum. I kept having to pump it. Only the littlest bit of fluid was coming out. I'm starting to think there is some other problem. I may have to just give up & take it to a mechanic.

JimBlake

Here's a couple things to try...

When using a MityVac, I've found that air sucks in thru the bleeder screw threads. Smear a gob of heavy grease around the base of the bleeder screw to improve that.

You can also reverse the MityVac to apply pressure instead of vacuum. Fill the little jar with clean brake fluid. Take the hose that's connected down to the BOTTOM of the jar, & connect that to the clutch slave bleeder. Now the MityVac will push brake fluid into the slave. (First empty the reservoir to make room.)

I've found that without bench-bleeding, it's simply more difficult to work all the air out of the master. It's not impossible...

And if you keep pumping the pedal, remember, don't let the pedal snap quickly upwards.