Quick clutch bleeding question! - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Shawn T. W. · #16 11-12-2009, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tankowner

So, what did you do, because I will be doing mine in a week or two.

First I sucked all the brake fluid out of the reservoir with my Craftsman vacuum tester, refilled with new, took vacuum tester, and attached (included) container, and hooked it up to the bleeder on the clutch slave, opened bleeder, until my container was full! Nice cleaner fluid now! Re-filled reservoir.

Can be seen here starting with post #75:
My 1st MB . . . A 82 240D Manual!

Pretty nasty stuff in there . . .

rs899 · #17 11-13-2009, 06:54 AM

240D clutch bleeding is an art, not a science.

I replaced my M/C and slave in 2003 when I got the car. Bleeding went like a charm using the FSM method- no sweat. The M/C failed in 2008 and I spent 3 weekends trying to bleed it using the same (and other )techniques.

charmalu · #18 11-13-2009, 01:00 PM

I hate you guys that don`t have problems bleeding the clutch

.

when I did the 300D swap, it took several days to get it to work.
I first thought pressure bleeding with my Motive Bleeder would just blow out the air and I would be grinding gears down the Highway in no time.

yeah right.

bled from the R/F caliper to slave, gravity bled, tried to pressure bleed from bottom up.

finally had wife pump peddle and bleed from the bottom at the slave, suddenly it all worked.

.

I talked to an Indy that said to tap the Master cyl gently will dislodge the trapped air.
Air has to rise, so bleeding bottom up makes sense.

HMMM, now this all seem so simple as I look back on it, why was it so
difficult at the time

I did get a bath in Brake fluid a couple times under the car

.

Charlie

stimpy451 · #19 11-13-2009, 02:53 PM

Maybe I'm missing something here, but several people have said that the prescribed method of bleeding the clutch system is to bleed from the right hand brake caliper.

On my 220D, the only way that the clutch and brake systems are linked is by the fluid reservoir. Bleeding at the brake calipers would do absolutely nothing.

soothappens · #20 11-13-2009, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stimpy451

Maybe I'm missing something here, but several people have said that the prescribed method of bleeding the clutch system is to bleed from the right hand brake caliper.

On my 220D, the only way that the clutch and brake systems are linked is by the fluid reservoir. Bleeding at the brake calipers would do absolutely nothing.

Hooking a line from one bleeder screw to the other and pumping the brake sloooooowly. On these older systems you would have to bleed the front brake to remove any trash in the front caliper otherwise it gets pumped into brand new slave cylinder.

Thats why I went to the oil can method . I can control the cleanliness without the extra work or expense for a reverse bleeder.

I tried this with the vacuum type bleeder for brakes but couldn't get a good pedal . Reverse bleeding seems to work better ,bottom to top.

As for oil can it was the only thing I had on hand that would push fluid upwards . Plus it comes with its own resevoir. proper reverse bleeder would probably work better.

"necessity is the mother of all invention"

charmalu · #21 11-13-2009, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stimpy451

Maybe I'm missing something here, but several people have said that the prescribed method of bleeding the clutch system is to bleed from the right hand brake caliper.

On my 220D, the only way that the clutch and brake systems are linked is by the fluid reservoir. Bleeding at the brake calipers would do absolutely nothing.

The brakes and the clutch use the same reservoir for their supply of fluid.

The clutch and the brake system is a closed system.

Connecting a hose from the R/F Caliper nipple to the Slave Cylinder Nipple,
and opening them both will create an open system.

The fluid in the Reservoir will flow to the R/F caliper, through the hose
connecting the two bleed nipples (that are now open) through the Slave
cylinder, up to the master Cylinder, and back to the fluid Reservoir.

The idea here is to push the air up to the top (air rises). easier to push a bubble to the top, than down through a tube.

When I was doing mine, I first flushed the brake system before starting the Clutch job.

Iam wondering if a oil can with a pump lever and a flexable spout would work as well?

Charlie

220DSC · #22 11-13-2009, 09:08 PM

I just came inside from doing the clutch slave!!! Everything went great! I was worried about the bleeding but this is what happened. I took the line off the slave. Then I took the two bolts off the slave. I Put the new line on the slave first. I then put the bolts back on the slave. I opened the bleeder and what do you know my wife said dinner was ready. She was cooking steaks because I was working so hard and that stopped me from cursing. Before I went in I pumped the pedal a couple of times and topped off the res. When I got back out to the car I saw the slave dripping so I shut the bleed screw. I topped the res again and told the wife to pump the clutch and hold it and I opened the bleeder. We did this a couple times and the clutch is perfect!!!! I was real happy with how this one turned out!

tankowner · #23 11-13-2009, 10:03 PM

So you're saying I just need to convince my wife that I am working hard, have her make a couple steaks, and the clutch should be bled pretty well. Great. Thanks. I'll give that a shot over the other methods.

220DSC · #24 11-13-2009, 10:36 PM

It is called gravity but if it gets you steaks it's worth a try. LOL

stimpy451 · #25 11-16-2009, 10:52 AM

Same thing here. I put the new slave on, filled the reservoir and pumped the clutch a few times with the bleeder open on the slave, then let it sit for about an hour. Pumped the clutch again (bleeder open) - left the clutch down on the floor and tightened the bleeder. Refilled reservoir, pumped clutch a few more times...bingo. Nice high friction point.

*shrug*