So while I was underneath my car yesterday I decided I would try and bleed my clutch after I recently replaced my clutch and its felt pretty low after that, I pulled the slave cylinder off but left the line connected so it wouldn't get anymore air in it and started looking for ways to keep the piston compressed after a while of trying to find something to rig it up I finally gave up and bolted it back up but after that I have no clutch pedal at all I can get it to go in gear if I pump the clutch vigorously but other than that there's almost no pressure. So today I bought stuff to keep the piston compressed which I removed the slave cylinder completely to make it easier this time, and I had somebody pump the clutch then hold it and I would loosen the bleed valve and then closed it so they could pull the clutch back up, I repeated this until nothing but fluid came out and bolted it back up to the gearbox but now it feels even worse, before I buy a slave cylinder I figured I would ask if there's something I'm doing wrong? The slave was never leaking and I've never lost brake fluid so I'm not sure if they can just mess up internally or what all help is appreciated

 

Look at pelican parts website. They have diy stuff that may help. Otherwise you may need to buy the special tool. FWIW, the fellow who sold our mini to us said the clutch cylinder was a booger to bleed without the tool. With three 6-speed minis in the house the tool may come in handy.

 

+1

Clutch and bleeding info in these articles:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

If you review them and follow the instructions and still have issues please let me know. You can also post a comment at the bottom of any of those articles for our other MINI guru to provide some input for you.

 

I ended up just ordering a new slave cylinder and the pressure bleeder tool so hopefully I can get my mini up and running again by tomorrow

 

Be careful when either compressing or installing the slave, if you **** the plunger in the bore even once you risk destroying a brand new slave.

You'll want to make sure to take your time and compress the cylinder as straight as possible, many times if we are trying to reuse a slave I'll pull the boot off the plunger just to see if fluid leaks out during install.

While bleeding the slave we will have the compression tool on the cylinder with a Motive pressure bleeder on the master cylinder, you will want to wiggle the slave around as there will be air trapped in spots, as well as occasionally giving the clutch pedal a pump by hand. (Don't try to press the pedal by foot or with excessive force while the tool is on the cylinder or if the slave isn't installed.)

When I want to make sure the slave is bled fully I will push the clutch pedal by hand to see how stiff it is (with the compression tool still on the slave), it should be near immovable by hand. A small amount of depression is fine as long as it isn't dead slack.

 

Just installed a new slave and this thing is an absolute ***** to bleed after trying to bleed it 10 times I ran out of brake fluid so it looks like I'll try again tomorrow after work, I can't believe it's this difficult

 

Are you trying to bleed it with the cylinder completely compressed?

Are you using a Motive power bleeder at the master?

I'll agree they're a bit tempermental, but after that many bleeds it should've been good.

What is the problem it's giving you as of right now?

 

Yeah cylinder is completely compressed, I am using a motive pressure bleeder at the master cylinder, and there's no pressure on the pedal if I pump it a ton of times then I'll get a little bit of pressure and be able to put it in gear but it loses pressure again almost immediately.

I am gonna try a few different ways later on today to see if I can't get it bled

Edit: I got it, I'm not really sure what I did differently but it feels perfect now