help bleeding slave cylinder

[sean1.8t]

ok, quick back story. changed my clutch saturday, and of coarse got air in the lines. so i go to bleed my slave(which should be easy) but break off the plastice bleeder screw. D'OH! anyways, get a new slave put in last night, and today pick up a pressure bleeder and brake fluid..

now's where im having a problem. i can't get the system to bleed out fully. and my pedal pressure is at absolutely ZERO!

i've bled through probably a gallon of brake fluid in increments and put it back in the system. tried pumping the clutch. i've done everything i can think of. but no pedal pressure, and there still seems to be air in the lines. and i know there are no leaks..

any idea's?

[DeanUW]

Did you bleed the brakes too? Hows the brake pedal feel? Also how much are you bleeding out of your slave?

[Scott]

Yeah, check the brakes and also try to pump the clutch pedal a few times before opening it. Mine took a few pumps to get the initial pressure built up and then it blew out the last few bubbles.

[sean1.8t]

well after a talk to old guy, i think im on the right path finally. i was definately going about it the wrong way. thankfully he seems to know a LOT about the inner workings of these damn audi's! but im on the search locally for a better pressure bleeder and then we'll see if getting all the air out of the system will give me my drivability back. fingers crossed!

thanks a lot guys!

thanks again old guy

[DeanUW]

what ended up being the problem? Your bleeder not powerful enough for the slave?

[sean1.8t]

i just didn't have the right bleeder. mine was just a generic one found at harbor freight. it has a very small in line resevoir and does not connect to the brake/clutch fluid resevoir on the car..

basically i was using this:


and i need this:


hopefully i can find one locally

[DeanUW]

If you cant find that one you should be able to find one like this:

What I use with air

If you dont have air then yeah that motive should work well, it has to especially if Old Guy said so haha

[old guy]

What you are showing is a vacuum bleeder. Works fine for brakes but not so good for VAG clutch hydraulics. If you have successfully used one to bleed an Audi clutch you have my accolades!

[DeanUW]

haha sweet, yeah I've used it twice with no problem, maybe its due to our air compressor being set so high???

[old guy]

haha sweet, yeah I've used it twice with no problem, maybe its due to our air compressor being set so high???

Do you block the clutch pedal up before you start? What tends to happen with a vacuum bleeder is that the clutch master cylinder piston drops slightly from the fluid vacuum and shuts off the feed port on the cylinder bore which prevents the vacuum bleeder from pulling any fluid through the system. Even with the pedal blocked up the master cylinder piston can still drop. Very frustrating.

[DeanUW]

I've never blocked up the clutch pedal only brake pedal... Interesting that you say that now you have me worried for future bleedings

[absolutegtr]

Sean, I was in the same predicamant as you were.

I tried, literally, for two day straight trying to bleed the clutch...I tried it the pump method and the vacuum method, and just about everything else. LUCKILY, I posted up on my local forum, and a new member just so happened to have a motive power bleeder. In about 30 seconds i had a clutch pedal!

I then bought my own power bleeder! Justbuy one, it already has come in handy for me twice

[sean1.8t]

well in my boredom today i managed to Macgyver my pressure bleeder to work. just hooked it up backwards and blah blah... ended up getting all the air out of the system.

BUT, it didn't fix my issue at hand like i had hoped. fuck!

im going to contact Southbend to see what they say about it and if they don't do anything im going to lengthen the slave cylinder rod the old guy way..

and if all else fails, the trans is coming back out. fuck!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!>!!!

[sean1.8t]

damn. im not quick enough