gravity bleeding works good for me.

 

There anything any quicker than gravity bleeding?

 

my dad has good luck using the bleeder. i on the other hand dont that why i gravity bleed.

but my dad he has some one pump press the clutch to the floor and hold it. then he crack the bleeder and lets the air out. once he does that and gets a decent pedal he sits there and just pumps the clutch and within 15 min he is done and has a rock solid pedal.

i tried one day for like 4 hours and got no where he was done in about 15 min i was happy but pissed at the same time

also when i gravity bleed the system i remove the complete assembly and hang it on my peg board. its usually good to go after sitting over night.

 

yeah, i cant use the bleeder screw neither.

I really dont have the time to take it out, i may try the gravity bleed tonight, but what if the resevoir runs out of fluid? Then im pretty much screwed again, right?

 

whenever ive gravity bled them i was able to get them partially bench bled then you let the gravity portion do the rest. so ive never really had to worry about the resevior running out

 

YEP!...What was the problem to begin with?Leak?bad slave /master?I ran damn near a gallon of fluid through one of mine befor I relized I had a bad slave...

 

The problem was I was on my way home the other night, and topped a hill, and a opossum was right there, so i stratled it, and it ended up cracking my slave. I ran the 2 bottles through tryign to bleed the new. Its a pain.

 

Thanks. I'm gonna try it tomorrow after I "rearrange" the slave cylinder. I talked to a buddy thats a mechanic for UPS, and I come to the conclusion that I have the slave cylinder on upside down. When I bought the truck, it didnt have a tranny, so I didnt have a reference and hadnt had a s10 before, so I put the slave cylinder on with the bleeder screw pointing down, not even thinking about the common sense of air rises, so tomorrow when its light outside, I'm gonna fix the slave, and then gravity bleed it. He told me that was the best way to do it too. But, thanks man.

 

i think the bleeder screw orientation is the main problem

 

Yea, Like tipp says about the bleeder screw.It has to be on top.

 

If you have bled a whole bottle through it then you have a leak somewhere. There is no way you would need to run a whole bottle through it.

 

If you have bled a whole bottle through it then you have a leak somewhere. There is no way you would need to run a whole bottle through it.

I would agree. Did you replace your master cyl too? sometimes when those go bad they introduce air into the system with every pump.

 

You dont think about that when your out there pumping the chit out of it.I didnt until 2 hours later...lol

 

Yeah i replaced my master cyl first to see if it was introducing air but it wasnt. so i kind of had an advantage there.

 

bubbles rise in air. so if the bleeder is at the bottom of the slave all that he is doing is pushing out good fluid instead of the air.

 

What is "gravity bleeding"? I had to replace my slave, and now I can't get the damn thing bled to save my life.

Charles.

 

Crack open the bleeder valve a 'little' and just let it drop fluid out on its own,slowly over time.DONT let it run out of fluid.

 

but in an s10 the system has to be removed from the vehicle and set up properly on a peg board or something like that

 

Wait, what? Why do I have to remove everything to bleed it? It was an absolute nightmare getting it all put back together, now I have to take it apart again???

Can a mechanic do this better? I'll have it towed to a place if that's what it will take. I'm sick of working on this damn thing.

I know one thing for sure, I'll never again buy a truck that has a hydraulic clutch. Cable is simple, cable works.

Charles.

 

Wait, what? Why do I have to remove everything to bleed it? It was an absolute nightmare getting it all put back together, now I have to take it apart again???

Can a mechanic do this better? I'll have it towed to a place if that's what it will take. I'm sick of working on this damn thing.

I know one thing for sure, I'll never again buy a truck that has a hydraulic clutch. Cable is simple, cable works.

Charles.

the way the master cylinder sits, you have to remove it and tip it up or else you wont get all the air out of the system. it will just trap a big air pocket at the top

example

 

hmmm. never had to do it like that my self....

 

Gravity bleeding didn't work for me. I ended up losing what little clutch was there when I started. And I watched that fluid level like a hawk. The brute force method finally worked... got a friend and we spent an hour, maybe an hour and a half, bleeding, bleeding and more bleeding.

Although, we could probably have stopped sooner. The new clutch requires much less foot pressure to disengage. We were both judging the pedal by the old clutch, which was quite stiff. In comparison the new clutch is feather light. So, it was bleeding properly after all... we just didn't know that.

Charles.

 

I don't know about the 4.3 5 speed but when I did my 2.5 4 speed I had it well and thoroughly bled (gravity, conventional 2 man bleeder screw, even ran a hose with a check valve back to the master) and still didn't have pedal. so I came here, read a bunch, and found that after bleeding the system, pump the pedal 100-200 times without touching the bleeder. it worked.

 

ok, i gravity bled it and it still goes in and out. Sometimes itll work like new and sometimes, it wont work at all.

 

No leaks anywhere?Line good? It still has air in it.pump the chit out of it more.Either that or the master is out or going out.

 

Could there be an air pocket in the master? Because isnt the master cylinder angled?

 

you must have missed post number 21

 

yep, its angled.But I have NEVER had that much problem unless something else is bad. 3 things, master, slave line. Sounds to me like it still has air in it though.

 

Hey guys, new to the forum but have had a 91 SONOMA since 93. I know this thread is rather old, but may help with others in the future. I just rebuilt the 2.5 and also replaced the slave cylinder and have had the same problems with bleeding the air from the system. I got on here and read about the angle of the master cylinder. I went out yesterday, and pulled up and parked on a rather steep bank behind my house with the left front the highest point, and was amazed at the amount of air that came out of the master cylinder. I pumped the pedal and also got outside of the truck and shook it back and forth and that produced air. Also, I wiggled the hose leading from the reservoir to the master cylinder and that got some air out too. The intermittent clutch problem, not wanting to disengage, is gone. I plan on doing it again to make sure I get it all out. Thanks to everyone that added comments here, it was a huge help.

MAKE SURE YOU CHOCK THE TIRES AND APPLY THE PARKING BRAKE BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE!!!!

David

 

Ok I guess Ill be the noob here and ask where the bleeder valve is on the 95? Mine just has an open hole on the top the of the slave like seen in this pic.

http://images.whisystems.com/smartpages/partinfo_resize/AMS/S0463.jpg?width=300&height=300

 

That open hole has an allen screw in it and that is the bleed screw.

 

Ok - here is the OFFICIAL way to bleed the slave. It is almost the only way to do it since the slave cylider design BLOWS :rant:
Aholes at GM should be de bagged. :asshat:
You have to take the slave OFF of the bellhousing and tip it veritcally with the hose and bleeder at the upper end. Open the bleeder and push the clutch rod all of the way into the slave. While it is still in, you're holding it right? You have to close the bleeder. You will be surprised how much air it can hold. Reinstall it.
Now, you have to pump the poo out of the clutch pedal. :not:
Finally, after you have developed a HUGE calf on your left leg, you will have a clutch pedal again.
What a STOOPID design. Phuckers.
There is no book that tells you this method. I learned by the 2 hour screwing around method.
I am really glad I took physics in college, :haha: otherwise I'd be shifting without a clutch.

 

When you are pumping the pedal do you leave the clutch master cylinder cap on or off?

 

I discovered the one man gravity bleed on my clutch.

I had forgot the bleeder screw was open, and when I plugged the clutch line in, fluid started pouring on my chest. By the time I closed the bleeder screw, which was not long it was bled. I probably lost half the reservoir of fluid, but it doesn't hold much.

The first time I cranked the truck it took off by itself, but one pedal pump and it was stoppable, and by 3 pedal pumps it was perfect.