No Clutch Pressure, New Master, Slave & Line

[Andy’97]

I've read through a lot of the posts here on bypassing the clutch damper and found them incredibly helpful, but I cannot seem to get over this hurdle.

I've recently purchased a '97 240sx (one owner, stock) that has been sitting for about two years. The clutch pedal went straight to the floor. I replaced the Master, Slave, and purchased the Auto to Manual clutch line and went straight from Master to Slave. I bench bled the Master to prepare it properly. I have tried everything (well obviously not "everything") but I still cannot get the clutch pedal to return from sitting on the floor without manual coercion. I'd imagine I am doing something wrong in my attempts to bleed and pressurize the system.

I'd appreciate any help/advice that can be offered and I look forward to sharing my knowledge here on this forum as I grow to understand this car better as I bring it back to life.

[Zenki_559]

Just making sure, you are bleeding the line all the way to the slave, and not just hoping bench bleeding the master was enough, correct? I know a long time ago i had purchased the stainless clutch line, bypassed the damper, and had to continuously bleed and bleed and bleed before i had decent pressure. Definitely makes it easier with 2 people. One Person pumps and holds the clutch pedal, person on bottom opens and closes bleeder valve on slave, person manually resets clutch and repeat until there is liquid shooting out of the bleeder valve with every opening.

[Andy’97]

I am bleeding at the Slave, but not getting much fluid out, just a trickle when I open the bleeder. The Slave is moving but only a very small amount. Still no pressure at all in the pedal. My buddy is pumping the pedal (manually up and down since there is no pressure) and then holding it down while I open the bleeder on the Slave and then close it, to repeat the process, again and again, with no sign of improvement.

[tuzzio]

Mine was a bitch to bleed at first. I literally ended up using my shop vac to pull fluid down. Havent had an issue since.

[Andy’97]

Not a bad idea with the shop vac, I may try that when I get home. I've also read it's best to crack the bleeder open at the Slave and leave it open while pumping the clutch pedal by hand rapidly to get some initial pressure built up in order to bleed properly. I'll be trying these things later today.

[Driftaholic84]

I had an issue with this like 15 years ago.. replaced the springs holding the throw out bearing to the fork and the fork to the pivot ball and replaced the pivot ball and it all magically went away. Pain in the ass to do but the repair is cheap.

And do they make speed bleeders that fit our slave cylinder?

[Andy’97]

I may have to go that route, trying to rule out everything before pulling the trans off. I believe there is a speed bleeder for the Slave, as it's a standard fitting.

[oLemurs]

yea i remember when i first did mine i spend probably 30 minutes trying to figure out why it had no pressure just pushing the pedal back and forth

[Andy’97]

Yep, that's exactly where I am with it now.. Hopefully the steps above will help. I'll give it a go later today. I appreciate all the help!

[smoked240]

Mine was a pain to bleed. Just wondering, what procedure do you use for bleeding?

[jimcfl]

You need to flush before you bleed. Leave the cap off the reservoir, open the bleeder valve a little (enough that fluid comes out). You need a bleeder line at least a foot long, it's best to have enough to run down into a bottle. I use the clear silicone tubing. Pump the pedal quickly and repeatedly. Be very careful you don't empty the reservoir, or you're starting all over. IIRC, you only get around 9 pumps to empty the reservoir. Once you are getting steady streams of fluid out of the bleeder you should be ok.

The bleeder tube allows the bleeder to not suck air back in once you have most of the air out, because the tube will be filled with fluid. If the open end of the bleeder tube is submerged in flushed fluid in the bottle you're draining into, that's even better.

[Andy’97]

I did the gravity bleed as noted, just filled the reservoir and cracked the bleeder open on the slave and left it alone for a few hours. Also jacked the rear passenger side of the car as well which seems to be a trick that works very well for this process. I topped off the master reservoir once and that was all it needed.
I then had a clutch pedal and was able to bleed as normal (hold clutch pedal down, crack bleeder on the slave, see steady stream of fluid, close bleeder, release clutch pedal and repeat maybe 10 times. Really appreciate everyone's input on this, hopefully this post will help others as this seems to be a quirky process.