trying to get air out of my clutch system. Any ideas?

[blueapple]

My clutch started to lose pressure a while back, ( I think it was a bad slave preload spring, which later varified to be true, There could have been air in it too)

since the master cylinder is dying anyways, I just replaced it and bled the line ( By myself, I used a bar to hold the pedal down while I release the bleeder ). For half a day or so, it was fine, then at night it started losng pressure again after some-what aggressive driving. The pedal will come all the way up, but it feels very very soft untill maybe half way in ( which makes me think it's air, because if it's leaking, it should stay down there), and shifting feels kinda notchy, the pressure does come back after I pump it a few times. This is especailly true after some highway driving. I checked all the joints, looked throught the entire line, there's no leak. ALso checked the reservor, and found some TINY bubbles along the side of the cap from the bottom whole.

So I bled the thing again, and what do you know, foam looking fluid. So after half a bottle of brake fluid, it started to run clear, and the pressure seems to be fine. Took it out for a test drive, besides being a little bit soft, nothing was obviously wrong. Pedal pressure came back.

Woke up this morning, pedal's soft again. ( from beginning, before it usually start to lose pressure when the car warms up

Well, air does raise up, and I"m bleeding it from the bottom.. ( and I have to run around, so for sure the bubbles have enough time to get away from the Slave Cyl area ) I'm sure there's some air trapped in that "U" shaped section where it goes into the master cylinder, but how do I get it out? What about that one man's bleeding tool? ( not that super expensive one, but the one with a check valve inside, so I can just keep pumping? anyone had luck with that? Bleeding a clutch from empty line?

Thanks!

[Hajoca]

I would check your clutch cylinder to see if there is a leak in the hose or fitting there lower in the system that is allowing air in.

Make your own bleeder.
Get a piece of rubber tubing (I use aquarium air tube) punch 2 small holes in a plastic bottle's top and make it fit the tube tight. One tube long enough to reach to the bottle's bottom, second (vent hole) just a little below the cap, you can apply suction to this hose. pour some fluid into the bottle to immerse the long tube's lower end, top end I slip over the bleeder fitting.

I squeeze the bottle slightly and connect the long tube to the bleeder screw and crack the bleed screw open. Cover the vent hole and let the bottle suck out the fluid.

[blueapple]

ok, I will check that, although, there's no leak I can see, I mean no fluid, and I don't think it's physically possible for air to go in there without fluid coming out (even with fluid coming out, how could air get in though? the top of the system is vented to atm and the fluid itself must have some pressure.

[5spd V6 ClrTail]

When I turn my car on and it's cold, i can hear a noise coming from the master/slave cylinder area, i know it's clutch related cause if i press the clutch to the floor the noise goes away, when I release the clutch the noise comes back. Also, my clutch pedal has similar problems where it will seem like a new cars' clutch and some times the engagement point will be way down near the floor. Y does it do that? i like the clutch like how it used to be: high engagement point.

[blueapple]

regarding the noise, I think it could be either the clutch fork boot loose, or the throw out bearing kinda riding on the pressure plate. Which in my opinion could be caused by slave cylinder not having enough force to push the bearing against the pressure plate, or a bad TO, but let's not think about it that way. lol. And I have no idea why pedal lose pressure. It started to happen since I rebuilt the slave cylinder. I'm PRETTY sure I have air in the system, but I just can't get it out with the methods showed on toyota repair manual, I"m gonna use my own physics and try again tomorrow, if my methods doesn't work still, I"m taking iit to a shop to have it power bled.

[Your Uncle Moe]

Originally Posted by 5spd V6 ClrTail

When I turn my car on and it's cold, i can hear a noise coming from the master/slave cylinder area, i know it's clutch related cause if i press the clutch to the floor the noise goes away, when I release the clutch the noise comes back. Also, my clutch pedal has similar problems where it will seem like a new cars' clutch and some times the engagement point will be way down near the floor. Y does it do that? i like the clutch like how it used to be: high engagement point.

My car used to make noise when it was sitting in neutral and when I pressed it down, the noise would go away. Turned out to be the throw out bearing. It later shattered taking the clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, tranny housing, 2 ears off the block, Master and slave cylinders along with it..... fuck'n Talon.

[Hajoca]

Did you bench bleed the clutch cyl??

The slave cyl on the bottom should bleed with little problems. I was wondering what you can do is force fluid from bottom uo to the reservoir.

[marc780]

When I turn my car on and it's cold, i can hear a noise coming from the master/slave cylinder area, i know it's clutch related cause if i press the clutch to the floor the noise goes away, when I release the clutch the noise comes back.

Yes what Gridline said, sounds like the throwout bearings out of grease needs changing. Might as well do the pressure plate and disc too unless they are like new, because the trans has to come out for this chore.

Also, my clutch pedal has similar problems where it will seem like a new cars' clutch and some times the engagement point will be way down near the floor. Y does it do that? i like the clutch like how it used to be: high engagement point.

again, sounds like the pressure plate, the springs do wear out occasionaly and when they're all the way gone, there will be no doubt cause the clutch wont work at all. Also the disc could be really worn to the rivets and this too will affect your pedal height. Probably Needs a clutch job - when's the last time the clutch was changed?

[blueapple]

Hey Marc780, nice to see your post again! You just want me to pull that tranny out don't ya? lol You named every single part there are in a camry clutch system.

Everything's new, and the bearing doesn't make ANY noise.

the pedal stopped losing pressure after I changed out the slave cylinder, guess the cup was bad inside.

I think it's for sure an engine induced vibration. The same type of vibration exists on the gas pedal with shoes off, only much weaker, same pace, same timing (split seconds after foot off the gas, and when getting back on again).

I test drove a new 350z the other day, same vibration but only at 5kRPM and above, and only when getting on and off the throttle, much like mine. Then after driving it for a while, I realize it syncs with the shifter. ( they use drive by wire, so gas pedal is steady ) disappointed, expect much more from a 30k car.

It's been 5k miles since the clutch change, vibration seems to have gone away quite a bit. Maybe it's just a brake in issue, like some NSX people said about their clutches.