Does this mean my clutch slave is bad?

[moretsky99]

Did a clutch job when my flywheel came loose after 8,000 miles on my previous clutch job where I changed ALL parts; I didn't Locktite my bolts. I tightened and Locktited my flywheel, put in a new clutch and pressure plate, pilot bearing, but did not swap out the master nor slave. For sure I had trouble getting the bell housing back on and, yes, used the bolts to draw it in.

Now after bench bleeding the master, I'm unable to gravity bleed the slave. I bought a hand vacuum pump. I tried it on the Master reservoir, but was unable to create a draw to suck fluid into the system. I then tried the vacuum on the bleeder of the slave. I was able to get a very small amount of fluid under a decent pressure, but never without pressure.

Any idea what these symptoms mean?

Thanks,
Allen

 

[Shran]

Watch that, it's the best explanation of how it works.

Are you SURE that the hose quick connect is fully pushed into the slave cylinder? Some of them just click in easily, some are really tough. If it's not completely pushed in, you won't get fluid out.

 

[moretsky99]

Hey, thanks for that. I will double check. I've had a lot of issues with that part of the system. When I bought the truck a number of years ago, the hose kept pulling apart there. Turns out there was a mismatch between slave and master. Finally I go the correct master with the metal clip instead of the plastic and fixed the problem, but it took a lot of buying and returning till I got the right one. I will check that connecter again and make sure. Thanks a lot, Shran!

 

[moretsky99]

Hey Shran, got any other ideas? Just checked the connection, backed out the clip and re-connected. Even held the 2 hoses together while I bled. Still no fluid coming out as it should be as it gravity bleeds. What else might be stopping the slave from emitting fluid?

 

[scotts90ranger]

The only thing that would keep fluid from coming out trying to gravity bleed it is an air pocket in the master cylinder I think.

 

[moretsky99]

Thanks. That's what I've come to believe as well. Hate to take that our a 2nd time and bench bleed. I'm going down to Harbor Freight to see if I can get a reverse bleeder and pump fluid up through the slave instead of taking the master out again.

 

[Shran]

Some of them are just really stubborn. Have you removed the bleeder all the way to see if it's plugged up?

I bet I've done 50+ clutch or hydraulic parts jobs on these trucks and all were eventually successful but the ones that fought me were always caused by not bleeding ALL of the air out especially in the hose and master, or reusing old parts. I should know better to do the latter but yet I still try to save $50 or $100 and it costs me several additional hours.

 

[moretsky99]

I threw in the towel today. I bench bled the master again. Still no fluid coming out of the slave. Had someone pump the clutch, but nothing.
I'm sure of the Master, but since I'm using the old slave, I can't be sure of that. At any rate, after 2 weeks underneath the truck... I'm having it towed to a garage tomorrow. Sorry to report, I failed.