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Old 07-02-2013, 07:52 PM   #1
ShardAerithes
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Join Date: Dec 2005
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Location: Asheville NC
Vehicle:
2005 WRX STi
PSM

Default Help - 05 STi Clutch bleeding gone wrong

Long story short, I am trying to flush the clutch fluid on my 05 STi because the fluid is full of dirt and water.

I take off the clutch reservoir cap. I put my "one-man bleeder" which consists of a hose leading into a little jar on the slave cylinder bleeder screw nipple and loosen the bleed screw. I push the clutch pedal to the floor, and some fluid goes into the hose. Then I close the screw, and pull the pedal up off the floor.

The problem is, when I loosen the screw to pump the fluid out again, all the fluid that is in the hose gets sucked/pulled by gravity back into the slave.

I have yet to see the fluid level in the master cylinder drop AT ALL.

If I let the fluid backflow into the slave and tighten the bleed screw, I have a working clutch, but it doesn't disengage all the way. I have notchy shifts and have to hit second before first when I pull up to a light. If I don't at least touch second's synchro before going into first, and just push towards first with the clutch depressed, the car moves ever so slightly forward, so I know it is not disengaging the clutch all the way. However once in first, I can bounce off my 2-step rev limiter with the clutch pedal in and the car doesn't move at all.

I don't understand why no fluid is coming from the master. I've never had an issue with this and I have all OEM lines and parts.

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
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Old 07-02-2013, 08:11 PM   #2
scooby4u
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Silver

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Fill up her MC. Open bleeder. Pump it up and down with your hand. You have to pull it up. Once it starts draining let it gravity bleed through a clear tube into a container. Periodically check fluid level. As it lowers add more. Every so often tighten bleed and and pump pedal slowly with hand. Repeat until it's normal. Gravity bleed is the best way to bleed a clutch.
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Old 07-02-2013, 09:00 PM   #3
ShardAerithes
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2005 WRX STi
PSM

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Thanks, trying this now. Seen quite a few air bubbles come out. Should the pedal be up or down while the gravity bleed is going on? When you say periodically, how often do I need to check fluid level? It doesn't seem to be going down much, if at all. It is pulling air bubbles out of the system but not fluid. It doesn't seem to be flowing back into the system any more though. My hose goes upwards about 5 inches then down about 7 inches into a container. The top of the arc has air in it where the fluid broke tension. Perhaps I need to move the hose so that there is no arc?
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Old 07-02-2013, 09:15 PM   #4
ShardAerithes
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PSM

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It must be moving some fluid as I've not seen the container fill up this far yet. I'm still a bit confused as to whether the pedal should be up or down during the gravity bleed, and when it'll become firm.
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Old 07-02-2013, 09:24 PM   #5
ShardAerithes
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PSM

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Moving it ok now... think this might actually work.
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Old 07-02-2013, 11:29 PM   #6
ShardAerithes
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PSM

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YES! Fixed. Thank you so much!

For anyone searching this thread in the future, here's what I did:

I pumped the pedal by hand, then left it in the up position. Then I opened the bleeder, and had the hose arcing slightly upward because of the upward facing bleeder screw, then down with the reservoir I was pumping into resting below the level of the slave cylinder.

Then I pumped the pedal a couple times and left it in the down position. I closed the screw and pulled the pedal up and down repeatedly, and left it in the up position. I then opened the screw, and pushed the pedal in. This got enough fluid in the hose to create the vacuum from gravity and it started to suck out air bubbles. It only went for so long, so I closed the screw (still, pedal down) and pumped again then (pedal up) opened the screw.

If I lost suction, I could lift the reservoir up and let some of the fluid roll down so it was sitting on top of the bleeder.

At times it would suck fluid back into the bleeder, and an air bubble would go back in, but once that happened it would immediately reverse and the gravity suction would pull a ton more air out. I had a lot more air in the system than I thought. This is about when I noticed that the master cylinder fluid level was actually dropping a little.

Eventually there was plenty of fluid in the gravity hose both below the air-bubble arc on top of the bleeder and sitting at the bottom on the other side, gravity pulling it to go into the reservoir but vacuum preventing it. At that point I had gotten out enough air that all I had to do was close the screw with pedal down, pump it and leave pedal up, then open the screw and it would pull more air out. After a few times of this, the pedal started to come back up by itself, and got progressively harder each time I did it. Eventually no more air came out and I was back in business!

All is working well now, a big thanks to scooby4u for turning me on to this method!
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Old 07-04-2013, 01:50 AM   #7
ShardAerithes
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Came out to my car today and the clutch pedal was nowhere near as stiff as yesterday. I'm now trying this again. I'm so sick of this horse ****.
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Old 07-10-2013, 12:53 PM   #8
subywrxdude
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bad master cylinder? any leaks?
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Old 07-10-2013, 10:08 PM   #9
gggplaya
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Man, just get a mityvac and be done with it.
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Old 07-11-2013, 12:29 AM   #10
norexyet
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gggplaya View Post
Man, just get a mityvac and be done with it.
Or a friend.
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Old 07-11-2013, 02:21 PM   #11
ShardAerithes
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No leaks.

The clutch pedal feel is stabilized and it no longer tries to move forward when pushing into first without hitting second though it does give me some resistance.

More annoying is the fact that if I sit in first with the clutch in for a length of time, I can't move the stick to neutral without forcing it or letting the clutch out fully then putting it back in. There must still be air in there, right?
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Old 07-11-2013, 03:05 PM   #12
rick-l
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Since there are no leaks by the slave it sounds like it is time for a new master cylinder.
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Old 07-11-2013, 03:19 PM   #13
gggplaya
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Did you replace the clutch line between the master cylinder and slave cylinder? It's only like a $20 part. I don't know about our cars since half of it is pipe, but on motorcycles you can feel mushy brakes when the lines get old. They'll expand a little when they pressurize and get hot.

If you've got a bunch of miles, i'd probably replace the master, slave, and line all at the same time.
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