how hard is it to replace the clutch slave and master cylinder on a 91 SE? i need to bench bleed the master cylinder too i think, how do i do that?

 

bench bleeding the master cylinder... once you have it on the car, hook up a hose to the outlet of the master cylinder. full up the reservoir with fluid and loop the rubber hose from the outlet back into the reservoir. start pumping the master cylinder (clutch pedal). do this for a while until the fluid comes out of the hose clean with no bubbles. once that's done, you get to move to the next point in the system.

hook up the outlet line back to the master cylinder. fill up the master cylinder with fluid and look under your intake airbox- you'll see a large metal junction with a bunch of large tubing coiled around it.. there's a bleeder screw on it.. open that screw and add fluid in the master cylinder as it runs through. you might have to pump it up as well or do a vacuum bleed to get that one full.. once you have that one bled and no air left in it, then tighten that bleeder screw and go to the slave cylinder.. bleed from there as well.

sometimes the clutch system is a royal PITA, but that's the best way I've figured out how to do it.

 

Would using one of the vacuum bleeders make the job easier? I thing I need to bleed my ’92.

 

Doing the actual work isnt the hard part. Getting all the air out is. I have a air powered fluid evacuator which i also use for bleeding and i just hooked it up to the juction Matt talked about and bled about half a bottle of brake fluid from there. Then I went to the slave cylinder and bled it from the bleeder there too until i had finished off a the rest of the first bottle and another bottle. Whenever bleeding you want to start from the beginning of the system and work your way to the end. When you have finished bench bleeding and have reconnected the hard line going into the master cylinder have someone pump the pedal and bleed it from there too. To do that you just have to crack open the screw at the end of the line going into the master cylinder while someone is holding the pedal down. Do that a few times before moving on to the rest. Whoever is pumping the pedal is going to have to manually bring the pedal back up once you have closed the bleeders at each location each time it goes back down so when that happens dont think there is something wrong.

Matt93SE - What is that "junction" you were refering to called? I know its got a bleeder, a line in, out, and a coiled line that just comes in and out of it, but can't figure out what its called. I'm guessing its some type of regulator/accumulator because i've seen similar coiled lines on brakes before.

 

how hard is it to replace the slave cylinder? does it just bolt up or what?

thanks



edit: "does it just bolt up or what?" (besides bleeding it of course)

 

replacing the slave cylinder is easy. you just need a 12 or 14mm socket to unbolt it from the transmission housing. then you need an open ended 10mm wrench to undo the hard line from the other end of the slave cylinder.