Easy clutch bleeding method

[Fons[DutchGuy]]

Bleeding the clutch system can be a real pain in the ass, I went trough the struggle and almost gave up until I found out about this method. The traditional method is only doable with a buddy and still takes up loads of time, this method is possible to do on your own and only took me 10 minutes.

What you need is:
-clean oil can with one of those thumb pump thingys
-some sort of tubing that fits over the bleeder nipple and over the oil can nozzle
-2 hose clamps to clamp the tubing
-wrench 8mm
-and of course brake fluid


I'm just going to describe step by step how to proceed.

step 1.
Make sure the reservoir is empty if not find a method to clear it, perhaps with a pipette or something.
Keep in mind that brake fluid is quite mean stuff and is able to properly ruin your paint if not removed in time.
Fill the oil can with brake fluid.

Step 2.
connect the hose to the bleeder nipple on the slave cylinder with the hose clamp, check if the nipple is closed (8mm wrench) and make sure the hose clamp properly tightened.
Like so:


Step 3.
Hold the other end of the hose upwards and fill it up with fluid from the oil can, this is to keep as much air out of your system.

Step 4.
don't forget to put the second hose clamp over the oil can nozzle then force the nozzle into the oil filled tube and tighten the hose clamp on the brass bit of the nozzle.
Like so:


Step 5.
Before opening the bleeder nipple give the can some squirts and see if there is any leaks, tighten the leeking parts if needed.

Step 6.
Now open the bleeder nipple a little and start pumping the oil can while you keep an eye on the reservoir. eventually this should fill up, continue until the reservoir is filled half way up.
Now close the bleeder nipple while you slowly push the pump button (make sure the nipple is closed before the pump action stops).

Step 7.
Tighten the nipple a little extra. Get in the car and pump the clutch pedal a couple of times. You should feel some pressure while doing this.
After this maybe you see a few tiny bubbles of air floating to the surface.

Repeat step 6 and 7 until the clutch feels right, you might need to do this 3 or 4 times and presto

Source: some guy from youtube explaining this basic principle (will post the link later on)
Feel free to comment

[Fons[DutchGuy]]

Link to the youtube man where I got this wonderfull knowledge from

[nucleustylzlude]

Nice little how to and link - so you simply pump it up through from the slave cylinder to the master cylinder/reservoir. Nice, clean and simple.

I take it this only works on clutch hydraulic lines and not our brake systems due to the dual piston nature of the brake master cylinder, anyone?

[Vtecmec]

Here's how I do it:

Fill the reservoir
Put a pipe on the slave nipple and put the other end into a bottle with a little brake fluid immersing the end of the pipe.
Open the nipple.
Pump the clutch pedal several times, topping up the reservior as necessary.
Close the slave nipple.

Job done, works for brakes too.

[Merlin]

It seems an overly complicated solution to a simple problem IMO. Plus any less than completely airtight componets may let air into the system.

[bucks420]

Havn't used them but im tempted by a set of these or something similar, makes brake or clutch bleeding a 1 man job without the agro .

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Auto-Bleed-Ni ... 53f972febe

[nucleustylzlude]

Here's how I do it:

Fill the reservoir
Put a pipe on the slave nipple and put the other end into a bottle with a little brake fluid immersing the end of the pipe.
Open the nipple.
Pump the clutch pedal several times, topping up the reservior as necessary.
Close the slave nipple.

Job done, works for brakes too.

This is how its done, but when I installed my clutch m/c a few years back I had an epic fail as I read a how-to that you had to open the bleed valve, press down the clutch, close the bleed valve and pull the pedal back up, keep going like this while topping up from the reservoir. That's why it took 2 people and alot of time. Wasn't until JayJay pointed out that you can just do the above similar to brake systems. Is the first scenario what you had found Fons?

Bucks, those look pretty good.

[wurlycorner]

Havn't used them but im tempted by a set of these or something similar, makes brake or clutch bleeding a 1 man job without the agro .

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Auto-Bleed-Ni ... 53f972febe

The picture is a standard bleed nipple?
If you unscrew that, it will work exactly the same as a normal bleed nipple?

[Merlin]

Here's how I do it:

Fill the reservoir
Put a pipe on the slave nipple and put the other end into a bottle with a little brake fluid immersing the end of the pipe.
Open the nipple.
Pump the clutch pedal several times, topping up the reservior as necessary.
Close the slave nipple.

Job done, works for brakes too.

This is how its done, but when I installed my clutch m/c a few years back I had an epic fail as I read a how-to that you had to open the bleed valve, press down the clutch, close the bleed valve and pull the pedal back up, keep going like this while topping up from the reservoir. That's why it took 2 people and alot of time. Wasn't until JayJay pointed out that you can just do the above similar to brake systems. Is the first scenario what you had found Fons?

Bucks, those look pretty good.

Why wouldn't you close the bleed nipple for the upwards pedal stroke like when doing brakes?

[Vtecmec]

If the end of the tube is immersed in fluid, you don't have to close or open the nipple on down/up stroke, just once at the start and once at the end.