Where's the bleeder? '99 LS1 T56
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From: 08088, 27215
Where's the bleeder? '99 LS1 T56
I've been searching here, google, ls1tech.. I can't find a detailed location of the bleeder. Everyone mentions it like its right out in the open, and I've spent about an hour just feeling around the general location and I can't find anything. Even the FAQs in this forum didn't offer much help. Can anyone give me an exact location, with what type of screw/bolt it is and what I'm "feeling" for, exactly?
Theres a 15mm bolt directly above the steel braided line going into it, which is slightly below the middle mark of the tranny. Its an inch or two from where the bellhousing bolts to the actual transmission. I don't think this bolt is what I'm looking for.
Above this bolt, basically around a bend I can feel something that resembles one of those bolts that are like the drain/fill bolts (like TORX, but flat sided.. Hex bolts?) but it doesn't feel like something that would bleed fluid, unless its an unconventional bleeder valve.
Near the oil filter, looking at it from the frontish part of the engine I can see another hex-type bolt hiding in there, going diagonally towards the transmission.
Am I going in the right direction with any of these? Can someone give me a solid, exact area answer on where this valve is? I KNOW its right infront of me, but I won't get it until I know where it is. Thanks in advance.
Also, the reason I've been trying to do this.. my clutch feels kinda weird.. when its cold (both engine and outside temp) it seems to not want to go into gear like it has a worn clutch, but once it warms up it usually goes in like butter like its supposed to. *Most* of the time. Doesn't seem like a worn clutch symptom, so I'm hoping its the fluid needing to be bled.. the car is newish to me, and things started to act this way when I discovered the resoviour was dry. I topped it up with fluid, but now its pitch black. I've seen the vac method, but would this suck the fluid out and work the way I need it to? Or am I stuck doing the bleeder valve way?
Theres a 15mm bolt directly above the steel braided line going into it, which is slightly below the middle mark of the tranny. Its an inch or two from where the bellhousing bolts to the actual transmission. I don't think this bolt is what I'm looking for.
Above this bolt, basically around a bend I can feel something that resembles one of those bolts that are like the drain/fill bolts (like TORX, but flat sided.. Hex bolts?) but it doesn't feel like something that would bleed fluid, unless its an unconventional bleeder valve.
Near the oil filter, looking at it from the frontish part of the engine I can see another hex-type bolt hiding in there, going diagonally towards the transmission.
Am I going in the right direction with any of these? Can someone give me a solid, exact area answer on where this valve is? I KNOW its right infront of me, but I won't get it until I know where it is. Thanks in advance.
Also, the reason I've been trying to do this.. my clutch feels kinda weird.. when its cold (both engine and outside temp) it seems to not want to go into gear like it has a worn clutch, but once it warms up it usually goes in like butter like its supposed to. *Most* of the time. Doesn't seem like a worn clutch symptom, so I'm hoping its the fluid needing to be bled.. the car is newish to me, and things started to act this way when I discovered the resoviour was dry. I topped it up with fluid, but now its pitch black. I've seen the vac method, but would this suck the fluid out and work the way I need it to? Or am I stuck doing the bleeder valve way?
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Joined: Aug 2006
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if your looking for the bleeder on the clutch slave your never gana get to it. now i may be wrong but i figure that all the t56 are the same for ls1 fbody. the bleeder its self is on the slave cylinder and is in the bellhousing so you cant get to it. if your trany is off the car you can buy a line that will conect to the bleeder and it will hang off the side of the trany. also the clutch is a "self bleeder" so just fill up the master cylinder and pump the cluch till its firm and re fill the master. and if the cluch feels weird when cold and the master was empty it sounds like your clutch slave is worn out and leeking, they only last 40k or so, i replaced mine at 36k. i hope this helps you
Last edited by madls1; Mar 20, 2007 at 08:14 PM.
Thread Starter
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From: 08088, 27215
if your looking for the bleeder on the clutch slave your never gana get to it. now i may be wrong but i figure that all the t56 are the same for ls1 fbody. the bleeder its self is on the slave cylinder and is in the bellhousing so you cant get to it. if your trany is off the car you can buy a line that will conect to the bleeder and it will hang off the side of the trany. also the clutch is a "self bleeder" so just fill up the master cylinder and pump the cluch till its firm and re fill the master. and if the cluch feels weird when cold and the master was empty it sounds like your clutch slave is worn out and leeking, they only last 40k or so, i replaced mine at 36k. i hope this helps you
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From: Oshawa - Home of the 5th-gen
Wrong, wrong, wrong!!!!! 
The bleeder IS accessible, and (ReNxWar), I think you were on the right track at one point ..... just above where the hydraulic line goes INTO the slave, there is a hex "bolt"(like) head, pointing slightly upwards, not quite sticking out from the bellhousing. If my memory serves me correctly, it takes an 11mm (or maybe 12mm??) socket, and unfortunately, it's a real b!tch to access, but you CAN get to it.
Bleeding the clutch is something like bleeding the brakes, but I don't think I bled mine 100% either, so I don't think I'm "qualified" to give you an accurate answer on "how to" bleed the clutch properly!?
If I can find a picture, I'll post it for you
.
EDIT: glad I saved some of the links from when I did my A4-->M6 swap!
Found you a picture 
...
http://www.villagephotos.com/viewpub...7072&selected=
The bleeder IS accessible, and (ReNxWar), I think you were on the right track at one point ..... just above where the hydraulic line goes INTO the slave, there is a hex "bolt"(like) head, pointing slightly upwards, not quite sticking out from the bellhousing. If my memory serves me correctly, it takes an 11mm (or maybe 12mm??) socket, and unfortunately, it's a real b!tch to access, but you CAN get to it.
Bleeding the clutch is something like bleeding the brakes, but I don't think I bled mine 100% either, so I don't think I'm "qualified" to give you an accurate answer on "how to" bleed the clutch properly!?
If I can find a picture, I'll post it for you
.EDIT: glad I saved some of the links from when I did my A4-->M6 swap!
Found you a picture ...http://www.villagephotos.com/viewpub...7072&selected=
Last edited by Capn Pete; Mar 21, 2007 at 01:17 PM.
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http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2002-...spagenameZWDVW
Theres an ebay auction for a T56 with some decent pictures.. can you show me the general area of where it is from those? If I see it, even on a tranny on the outside, I know what to look for.
Theres an ebay auction for a T56 with some decent pictures.. can you show me the general area of where it is from those? If I see it, even on a tranny on the outside, I know what to look for.
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 20
ok sorry for the wrong info but when i put the new slave in there was no way no how i could get to the bleeder, its just tucked up so tight you cant get anything up there. but still try to pump the clutch becouse before i changed my slave i pumped the clutch and filled the master till it was firm, and when i meen pump you have to pump it hard push it to the floor and let go fast. good luck to you and hopefully you dont have to spend to much to fix your car
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 5,308
From: Oshawa - Home of the 5th-gen
http://www.villagephotos.com/viewpub...7072&selected=
In don't know how I can make it much clearer than that?!?! In that picture, where you see the red plastic "cap", that's where the braided line connects from the master cylinder to the slave. Just above that, as it states in the picture, is the bleeder screw!
SO, when you are under your car, and where you see the braided line connect with the tranny, JUST ABOVE THAT is the bleeder. Again, it takes an 11mm socket (maybe a 12mm??), and YES, it is a REAL F-n B.I.T.C.H. to get at, but it CAN BE DONE!!!!!
The e-Bay link you posted shows 2 different T56's
... one is an LS1, the other is an LT1?! 
In don't know how I can make it much clearer than that?!?!
In that picture, where you see the red plastic "cap", that's where the braided line connects from the master cylinder to the slave. Just above that, as it states in the picture, is the bleeder screw!SO, when you are under your car, and where you see the braided line connect with the tranny, JUST ABOVE THAT is the bleeder
. Again, it takes an 11mm socket (maybe a 12mm??), and YES, it is a REAL F-n B.I.T.C.H. to get at, but it CAN BE DONE!!!!! The e-Bay link you posted shows 2 different T56's
... one is an LS1, the other is an LT1?!
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 655
From: 08088, 27215
Ok. Thank you SO much.. thats exactly what I was looking for. It WAS the thing I thought it was sitting there. It didn't feel like a bolt, though..it felt more like a rivet. Thanks alot man.. I really appriciate it.
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