How in the world do you get the air out the clutch lines?

 

Familiarize me with the clutch system you are dealing with. If it's anything like the clutch setup on my Nissan I can probably help you because I had some major problems with it.

I didn't have the clutch pushrod adjusted right, so the clutch master cylinder wasn't pumping the fluid with enough force to get the air out. If there is an adjustment on your clutch pedal make sure it is adjusted correctly first.

 

Theair got into the lines.. and I can't get this thing to shift right without pumping... the pedal...

 

There should be a bleeder screw on the master cylinder, maybe another one on a distribution block down there if you have one. Have you tried that yet? It bleeds out just like the braking system.

 

There is no bleeder screw on LT1 master cylinders.

Take off the slave cylinder and push in the pushrod a few times with the filler cap off. Bleeding them works something like that. It's been a while since I have done one. There's a lot of info if you do a search.

 

Did you just replace the clutch? If not the real question is, why did the air get there in the first place. I know exactly how you feel....mine kindof went all at once...i was comming up on this light and bam....no clutch hardly...had to have it in the carpet and i mean "in" the carpet. I wondered why i kept missing gears that last couple weeks, thought it was because i was missing my sleep.

My Cavalier kept getting air in the clutch system. It was a bad master clylinder i believe....i just replace everything since it had 150,000 miles. I had to bleed the air out every week It sucked....so i just replaced it....hopefully that isn't your problem.

 

Bleeding clutch:

Clean clutch master cylinder cap area so no dirt can enter the system.

Remove the reservoir cap and diaphragm.

If you are leaving the master cylinder in the car, use a wire or something hung from the LH hood strut bracket down toward the slave cylinder.

Remove the slave cylinder and use the wire you hung to support it.

Go back up top and get hold of the slave cylinder. Press the pushrod in ~20mm (0.787in) and hold it. Keep slave cylinder lower than the master cylinder.

Install diaphragm and reservior cap while holding the pushrod in.

Release pushrod and hold slave cylinder vertically with the pushrod end facing down.

Press pushrod in using short 10mm (0.390in) strokes.

Check the master cylinder for air bubbles and continue until there are none.

Reconnect slave and check reservoir for proper fluid level.

 

I was thinking what if I used one of those pressure bleeders for bleeding brakes... you know the ones you hook up to an air hose... would that work?

 

If you got air in the system because you opened it up, you may need to "bench bleed" the master cylinder. And you need a vacuum pump for that. If you don't bench bleed it, you can pump the pedal all day and it won't build pressure. If you got air in the system some other way (?????) you might not need to bleed the master cylinder.

 

This is really stupid.... but when I put the RAM adjustable setup in I used the supplied pull tie to secure the resivoir on.... I should have known better than to use that junk... becasue I couldn't get it tight enough... I realized later... My clutch worked great.... untill one day it started getting "sticky" to get in and out of gears... when I check the resivour I saw that it was leaking were the hose connected... So I fixed the leak with a clamp now... but air is in the system. Often I find myself having to pump up and down on the pedal sometimes to get in and out of gears...etc