On Fri, 3 Oct 1997, Debra A Morrow wrote:
> I've rebuilt the slave cyl and am trying to bleed the air out of the
> system. I am pumping the clutch and the bleeder valve is spurting but
> it seems to suck the air back each time the clutch is pushed. What am I
> doing wrong?
Debra,
As others have written, Don't give up!
I had the same problem as you up to last night. Then, on the advice of
Frank Clarici and the president of our local A-H club, I used positive
pressure to force fluid through the system. This was after using TWO quarts
of fluid previously with the old "open valve, pump pedal, close valve"
procedure. There are a few ways of forcing fluid through the master
cylinder. One is to buy an EZ Bleed. Another is to build your own. There is
a great step-by-step procedure outlined for this at:
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/cambs.mgoc/tips.htm
I built one in 15 minutes following this outline. I then bled the clutch
and brakes lines in less than 30 minutes. By far the biggest time
investment is gathering the parts. I got almost all of the parts at Home
Depot. What is needed is a bottle (must have a cap of about 1.5 inches or
larger -- I used an old glass jug, but you may want to use _strong_
plastic. My first one was real cheap plastic, and exploded brake fluid all
over me and the car when I pumped it up to about 10 psi. Whatever you use,
put it in a cardboard box just in case it splits.), a tire valve
($1.80/pair at Pep Boys), some vinyl tubing (I used quarter inch OD plant
watering tubing, about $3.25 for 50 feet. You only need about 3 feet, so
try to cut a deal at your harware store.), two rubber grommets with a 3/16
ID so as to tightly fit around the tubing (pkg of six for $1.00), and a
screw cap that fits the master cyinder. Also, get an O ring that fits that
cap ($0.35 at Home Depot). The necks of MCs are rough thread, so lots of
caps fit them. I used the cap from a quart bottle of Marvel Mystery oil (I
have a '65 Sprite. The MC necks on later years may be of different
diameter). You also need a drill so you can put holes in the caps.
The basic idea is to run a line from the bottle, which will contain a lot
of brake fluid, to the MC. Then the bottle is pressurized with a bicycle
pump. 10 psi is all you'll need. Once pressurized, open the bleed valve and
watch the air come out. I pumped up the bottle as the fluid ran out, and
also pumped the clutch pedal, to make sure I got as much fluid running as
possible. The clutch now works fine. This was my last gasp effort and it
worked. If you want more deatil than is at the URL above, email me.
Jeff
PS: Thanks to all of you on the list for your help. I was on the verge of
hauling the Sprite to a mechanic tomorrow morning when I finally got the
clutch to work using the above.
____________________________________________________________
Jeff Boatright __o_\__ '65 Sprite Mk III
http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~jboatri/sprite/sprite.html
|