My clutch felt like it had a lot of play and was very soft so I decided to flush and bleed the fluid. I unbolted the bleeder valve and let all the old fluid leak out. I cleaned the cylinder that was filled with black gunk. Poured in fresh fluid and began bleeding. The I used the 2 people technique. (One pumps while the other opens / closes the bleeder while watching the reservoir.

1. Fill the master cylinder with fresh dot 3 or 4 brake fluid. With the bleeder valve closed have the person in the car pump the clutch pedal a few times then hold it down.
2. Open the bleeder valve and watch all the air bubbles go through the hose and into the cup of water.
3. Tighten the bleeder valve and repeat steps 1 to 3 until no more bubbles show up. Make sure to keep an eye on the reservoir.

Strange thing is, while we are pumping the pedal is getting stiffer. We repeat the steps until we see no more bubbles. As soon as I take the car off the jack stands and hop in the car for a test run, the pedal is no longer stiff but is very soft. Is my slave cylinder shot? Or is it supposed to build pressure while bleeding and then disappear after a minute or two?

 

I've only done this once, but what I thought was that you never want the reservoir to empty. You don't want air into the system. Here is a DIY: http://forums.s2kca.com/showthread.php?t=12154

It sounds like you are saying you emptied the entire system? If so, you could still have air in there. Also, I dont know about the pumping before opening. I believe you just open the valve, press the pedal to the floor once, close the valve, then lift the pedal. Repeating this until fluid is clear and lacking any air bubbles.

 

Yeah, the old fluid was all black so I wanted to put new fluid in.

 

Yes but you still don't empty the system completely. This is why it's called a clutch bleed. You don't want air to get into the system, which means you never want the fluid empty from the reservoir at any point (either while driving or during the actual bleeding of the clutch)

If you read the DIY fully, you will see what I mean. You are simply letting old fluid out while putting new fluid in. Little by little, the fluid will get clear.

 

Think of dialysis for a person with weak or failed kidneys. You cycle the blood through to flush it of all the harmful contaminates, you don't actually drain them completely of blood before putting clean blood back into them.

It's much like bleeding the brake lines.

 

I couldn't think of an analogy, but you win my friend.

 

Unbolt the slave, point the bleeder straight up, and open it. Gravity will push the air right out. One man job, no pumping at all.

It is near impossible to get the air out with the slave bolted to the car.

 

listen to the man. did mine in 10 mins but had someone pouring fluid in as i was bleeding it

 

Ended up buying a mity vac for 20 bucks at autozone. Lesson learned. Thanks for the input guys. Clutch feels great.

 

Ya but what if you change ur clutch master cylinder you would have to put a new empty one right? so why should emptying it out all the way to clean it matter..? im having the same problem with my clutch