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R56 Clutch bleeding gone seriously wrong, baffled!

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Old 03-23-2014, 08:07 PM
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Clutch bleeding gone seriously wrong, baffled!

Where do I start, uuh!

I went over to my brother's house to change transmission fluid using Red Line MTL 75W80 GL-4 and to bleed my clutch. The Red Line gallon bottle I received said on back MTL 70W80 GL-4 so perhaps I'm missing something to this puzzle. Anyway next I had my brother operate the pedal while I was the guy with the bleed screw near my face, sure it squirt all over my face so I attached the 3-foot long tubing and kept it elevated. I followed the directions here and bubbles and air were coming out.

I bleed it 5 times with zero bubbles and (topped off reservoir each time) finally got a solid clutch pedal feel, so I topped off the reservoir once again for the last time. I asked my brother do it one more time to be 100 percent perfect, this where things spiralled out of control. I used DOT 4 brake fluid and on the last bleed air bubbles mixed with fresh brake fluid came out. I continued 5 more times (topping off res) but had a mixture of air bubbles and fluid, so I checked the res and there was plenty.

My brother stated the the clutch pedal was loose with no resistance in either direction, I climbed underneath the clutch pedal to have a look at the main cylinder that connects directly to the pedal. I moved the pedal back and forth and could hear nothing but air in the cylinder, at this point I gave it the frack up!

The story doesn't here there, had my Mini towed to my local Mini dealer and was inside no more than 10 minutes and my Craven Stubby was gone as was the cars next to me, I was looking for someone to pound on!

I look every person in the eye that was on the lot, I was looking them in the eye for that telltale look when nerves are on edge right after burglary. You can't hide that look when you got adrenaline pumping through your system.

Tomorrow I will order another Craven Stubby, hell maybe I should by two of them! What can use on the threads this next time to where someone would need strong pliers to get it off?
 
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Old 03-24-2014, 07:44 AM
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I think blue loctite on your antenna might work. It holds but will come off with tools.
 
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Old 03-24-2014, 10:36 AM
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Blue Loctite is a good call.
 
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Old 03-24-2014, 02:01 PM
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Originally Posted by zrickety
I think blue loctite on your antenna might work. It holds but will come off with tools.
Originally Posted by Kellen
Blue Loctite is a good call.
Freddy at Irvine Mini told me this kind of thing happens quite often as he has sold the stubby antennas to the same customer multiple times. So I would need to use some vice grips with bicycle tires inner tube and rap the tools teeth with it. So I guess red Loctite is not a good idea? Won't I lose reception since there will be no medal to medal contact when using Loctite?
 
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Old 03-24-2014, 02:12 PM
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If you have patience a lot of times you can just gravity bleed clutch slaves. Much easier than dealing with the pumping method. Or if you have a vacuum bleeder those are the best. Sucks about your antenna though.
 
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Old 03-24-2014, 02:52 PM
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Originally Posted by v10climber
If you have patience a lot of times you can just gravity bleed clutch slaves. Much easier than dealing with the pumping method. Or if you have a vacuum bleeder those are the best. Sucks about your antenna though.
Huh, I did attempt to gravity bleed the clutch slave. It was explained in the first post, gravity bleeding failed miserably and I had nothing but patience. I don't understand your response, it's as if you haven't read my very first post.
 
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Old 03-25-2014, 04:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Systemlord
Huh, I did attempt to gravity bleed the clutch slave. It was explained in the first post, gravity bleeding failed miserably and I had nothing but patience. I don't understand your response, it's as if you haven't read my very first post.
Except for the part where nowhere in your first post or the post you linked to does it say anything about gravity bleeding.
 
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