83 300 td 4 speed conversion. I didn't keep up with the tiny clutch fluid container. I let it get a little low and some air got into the master cylinder.
BEEN TRYING TO BLEED IT FOR 2 FREEKING WEEKS!!!!!!!!
1st I tried the old school pump the clutch then open the bleeder.
2nd tried the let it run. a whole qt of fluid thru the fn thing.
3rd tried the brake slave cylinder thing.
still no pedal at all.
today I got an idea. I used tiny fuel pump to push a qt of fluid from the slave up thru the master and out the top. now I got about half a pedal and its still sticking and sux.
oh ya I also changed both master and slave, was thinking maybe they were bad but **** is still the same fd up
any ideas would be greatly appreciated please jump in if you have any ideas.

Pushing up the fluid from the bottom is an excellent way to go. If you have some pedal you can finish by bleeding the old fashoned way with two people:

You are very close so don't give up. Remember just pump it up as much as you feel it improving, then hold the pedal to the floor and open the bleeder until fluid does not come out, tighten the bleeder and pump it up again. Repeat until it feels good.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The MC is easy to bleed where the hard line comes in. Put a rag under the nut, stroke the pedal and bleed at the nut.

The slave can be easier to bleed loose than mounted. Of course the best time to bleed it is before the tranny goes in.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

I once rebuilt a slave cylinder and refitted it and started to bleed it and could not get a pedal... the slave piston moved down its bore and remained stuck on full travel.
I had to remove it and lube the bore and work piston down by pushing with a screwdriver and then thump it down on a hard surface to get the piston to return to start position.
If your slave piston is stuck full travel then no amount of bleeding will fix it.
You can tap the side of the slave to try and free a stuck piston ,and slightly loosen the mounting bolts a turn or two as its possible the body may distort when its fully tightened up.

Thanks guys

ok you guys rock. turns out the 6" or so rubber section of the hard line between the master and slave had a crack and was leaking fluid. ill spare you the 6 weeks of cursing mfing, tool throwing bla, bla, bla. just say I found the leak and its all good now. so anyway. the last couple months since I did the conversion the shifter has been really hard to get out of reverse. I put it in reverse (a little awkward) then it will not come out!!!! I can pull the shifter back out of the actual gear but I cant get the fker to fully come out of the reverse "area" don't know what to call it. it wont go back to the regular forward gear H patern. its like its stuck over there in reverse land. I have to get under the car and yank on a rod or 2 to get it back into a forward gear to get home. (only test drives a couple blocks from house) thing is I drove the car for over a month after the conversion, the reverse was crappy but it would work if I banged on the shifter back towards neutral.

oh ya I tried cutting a couple threads off the reverse shift rod to shorten it a little more than the adjustment would allow. this did nothing to make it better.

also I have 2 shifter units that I got with the conversion kit. I tried changing it out with the other that did seam a little less worn out. this also did nothing to remedy the issue

I know there are always "bumps and bruises" with these big projects but HOLY HELL. After the oil leak disaster and then the clutch bleed and now the shifter. I'm in freeking overload

OH AND FOR ALL OUT THERE THAT NEED TO BLEED. THE TINY FUEL PUMP METHOD FREEEEEKING WORKS
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BAM

this should probably be a separate thread but basically you take a small generic fuel pump with a couple feet of 1/4 line of each end. stick one end of the line in a qt of fluid and the output line gets clamped on the bleeder of the slave cyl. I put little clamps on the ends of the power wires of the pump to attach to the battery. prime the air out of the lines then clamp he output line onto the bleeder with a small hose clamp. crack the bleeder, fire up the pump and wait. I let about half a qt flow up thru the res and then closed the bleeder. done deal. put a little pan under the res to catch the over flow.

You might get under the car and take the linkages off of the arms at the tranny, making note of course of what goes where and the order to reconnect them. I would say, go from when end to the other, and when it's good, you will be like 'mathematical!'


Last one I did linkages on was a 201 5sp, so a little guesses and assuming a w123 is similar, but with more space for tools and fingers. In memory, they are quite similar.

Input 'arms'
Each of the 3 input arms has a definite stop at the center of travel, this is the neutral position. If there is any slop, it is in the connection between the arm and the transmission internals. A 6 or 7mm hex key should tighten the capscrew and eliminate the slop. So when you have smooth motion with no slop, and a detent in the middle, you are good there. It's tempting to take the capscrew out and locktite it, but things shift and it's not fun to get it back in at all. Check for how snug the ends of the linkages rods fit. If it's sloppy, you can mail order the bushings.

Shifter- The shifter gates selection of the different linkages by lining up on a neutral position as defined by the detent on each of the arms. To shift from moving one linkage to the other, it's best if they are both in the neutral position. When you see the mechanism or an exploded view, the light will go on for you.

Theres a 4 or 5mm alignment hole through the 3 tabs that come out of the shifter. When you put a drill or pin or whatever through these, it locks them to center, neutral position. If it moves OK and is not nasty crudded up or busted up from age, go ahead and put the pin through. Order bushings for the shifter, if they are a sloppy fit with the linkage rods. Take each linkage rod, and adjust it so the eye falls right on the transmission arm, and clip it on.

When you take alignment the pin out of the shifter all of your motions front-back and right-left of the shifter should feel crisp and easy without binding, and no fiddly bulls**t. Moving the shifter to neutral will coincide with the shifter arm going into it's neutral detent.


If the shifter is nastied up or busted up, that's a whole nother thing. I used one from the parts car that was not nastied and busted up.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

Did you replace the shifter bushings? The ones in the shift rods. I got a set from Peach Parts and did them when I installed the trans - all is groovy. Those bushings get pretty beat up and might be the issue. Might as well do them all.

Dan

Lost motion because of slop in the connection between the arm and the tranny can be huge, when it got bad on my 201 5spd, I had no 2 or 4. I lost prolly 1/2" or more of motion, where bushings maybe got me a 1/16th.

Getting a tool on that cap screw may be hard. I think I cut down a 6mm allen key to fit, or used a tiny HF 1/4" ratchet with a cut down 6mm key I pushed out of a 6mm hex socket.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

ok thanks that's making it way way more clear to me. and yes I have a few new bushing and a few old. they all seem pretty good tho

holy crap THANKS moon, the shifter linkage help was key. if freeking drives amazing!!!!1 when I figured out how to adjust the linkage, all is groovy.
CLUTCH IS AWESOME AND SHIFTS PERFECT IM SO FREEKING HAPPY RIGHT NOW

THANKS THANKS THANKS

you guys have saved my freeking life