Clutch won't bleed properly

spearfish25

I've read through the other threads but can't find a clear reason for why bleeding the clutch can be so damn troublesome.

Went about bleeding the clutch today with a friend. Clutch was nice and firm to start...just wanted new fluid in there. So he pumped 3-4 times and then held the pedal down. I cracked the bleeder, got a rapid shot of fluid out, and closed it. The pedal then stayed floored and we couldn't get the system to prime again. About 8000 clutch pedal pumps later, we still couldn't get pressure to build. I finally attached my Motive brake bleeder to the clutch reservoir (won't lock but seals, so buddy held the bleeder adapter down on the clutch reservoir) and pressurized the system. Got some slow dripping with the bleeder valve open at the bottom and then closed it up and removed the pressure bleeder. The pedal would then firm up with about 50 presses, but cracking the bleeder valve gave a shot of foamy fluid and then nothing at all. 200 pedal presses later we'd have pressure again but then just a shot of foam spritz from the bleeder valve. Not feeling like it's bleeding correctly. We finally got the clutch pedal firm again and just called it. Drives fine, but I still think there must be air in it.

What methods have worked well for you guys? Following the service manual method, it's a pretty finicky task.

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Niztalgic

I gravity bleed mine until the reservoir was at minimum and filled. Repeated this about 5 times. Then did about 5 hold clutch to floor open bleeder, close bleeder and slowly pull pedal up. After this pump clutch up and down slowly about 20 times. Then I repeated this step and viola. 15 mins later job done. Also what helps is attached a suction pump to the bleeder to help speed up the gravity bleeding process. Also make sure the bleeder is completely sealed shut when you pull the pedal up. It can suck air back through it.

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spearfish25

Gravity bleeding doesn't seem to work at all for me. I assume that means just opening the bleeder valve and allowing fluid to dribble out...no pedal pumping and just refilling from above.

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Stillen CBE, ERZ Performance HFCs, Hotchkis rear sway, Carbotech XP10/XP8s, Custom oil cooler, AEM oil pressure gauge, Stillen power steering cooler, COBB post-MAF tubes, H&R 15f/20r spacers, Z1 SS brake lines, Stillen brake cooling kit, rear fog light

DIGItonium

I had the same problem last week. You probably have air stuck in the master cylinder, and when that happens you need to "bench bleed" it as my tech described it. Basically it's liking priming a brand new master with fluid before installing it.

What he ended up doing was disconnecting the clutch pedal from the master, ensure there's plenty of fluid in the reservoir, and pushed the plunger all the way in to push out all the remaining air trapped inside. With the pedal, there's a travel limit that prevents you from pushing all the air out.

Joe@ZSpeed provided very useful advice. When bleeding the clutch fluid initially, get all the air trapped in the hard lines connecting the master by loosening it. Then tighten it and crack the bleeder to finish the job.

Each time we bleed, I pumped the pedal 20-40 times, held down pedal to the floor, crack the bleeder, close it, and then repeat.

Once we figured it out, all I can say is for the first time in over 7 months I can finally enjoy driving the Z with perfect engagement and pressure (e.g., less than 0.5" springy play versus 2-3" of no pressure floppiness).

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SPOHN

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Dallaz

Hmm, I need info on this as well

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Trilitheum

I just finished bleeding my clutch tonight, the car only has 14,000 Km's on it, is 1 year old, the clutch fluid was already starting to go a light shade of green and had light deposits on the bottom of the reservoir.

No issues getting it to bleed, just needed to depress the pedal, crack the bleeder and close it before the flow stopped, then slowly pull the pedal up by hand, repeated until the nice new amber fluid came out (5 or 6 reservoir fills).

The first time I cracked the bleeder some air did come out, leading me to believe that the clutch was not bled properly from the factory. The engagement is smoother and more linear now. Recommend doing this even if you’re not doing any other clutch work, lines etc.

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MattP725

Will a vaccuum bleeder work on the clutch? Seems like that would be simpler if it does.

fuct

i was having trouble bleeding my clutch until i found out the CSC was broken.