Has anyone flushed the clutch fluid?

I never gave it much thought, and now I can see the fluid is very dark-colored when compared with the brake fluid. Not sure if the dealer did it with the 60k service or not. Is it turkey baster time or is there a better way?

 

You can bleed the brake fluid through the spouts in the engine bay just keep doing it till the dark coloredness is gone

 

Isn't there a bleeder screw on the slave cylinder? I recently replaced mine using the turkey baster method at 58K and intend to do it once more soon. I don't think its as important as bleeding brakes periodically, but brake fluid is hygroscopic and that's what you use in the clutch receptacle. I used Dot 3.

 

I just replaced my master cylinder and changed the fluid at the same time. The best thing to do (and easiest) is to get a large syringe with a piece of tubing. (It's better with 2 people too) Connect one end of the tubing to the bleeder valve on the slave cylinder and the other to the syringe then open the bleeder valve. Take the lid off the master cylinder and pull the plunger out of the syringe. The fluid will drop in the master cylinder fairly quickly so be prepared to add more fluid. (That’s why you may need a second person) When the syringe gets full, pop the hose off the end and put the fluid in a can or something. Put the syringe back on the hose and repeat until all the fluid is clear in the syringe. Tighten the bleeder valve and check your clutch pedal. Make sure you keep the fluid level up in the master cylinder... you do NOT want to get air in the lines. Hope this helps.

 

Speaking on clutch master cylinders, mine has acted up for some time now, occasionally dropping to the floor for about 10-15 min, them comes back like nothing is wrong( it's not air in the system). The car is in the shop getting a new clutch right now and they can't get any real pedal travel. The master cylinder is new and the system has been bled enough to replace the entire fluid volume twice. These guys have been around and know what they are doing, but they have never seen this before. Anyone ever have a loss of pedal and what was the problem?

 

No its important to bleed it out of the system, there is a lot of brake fluid in the lines still, and most of the dirty fluid is in there not in the resevoir. I bleed mine a while back via the lower and the upper points. The lower point didnt have much dirty fluid, but when I did the upper I was mid brownish then after many pumps I was getting almost black fluid out. Engagment was butter smooth afterwards.

 

http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/803


it says you need a second person, but i took a window brush/ice scraper for my car with and a piece of cloth between it and the power seat, used it as the second person. i moved the seat up and put the window brush on the clutch pedal and moved it til the pedal was all th eway down.

open the bleeder screw located in front of the driver-side strut tower and quickly close it after a second or so, (thats the top screw, they say you need to bleed both ends, but ive had luck with just the top because air usualyl gets trapped at the top and not the bottom of the system).

move your seat back and pull up the clutch pedal with your hand, then press the pedal again all the way, repeat opening the bleeder screw. if you get air in the system, be prepared to do it like 5 or 6 times before you get pressure back into the pedal. keep adding in new fluid until its the color consistency you want it to be. i dindt have a 2nd person the 2nd time i bled my clutch lines, so i resorted to this method. i used a piece of cloth so my seat wouldnt get damaged from the scraper.