Hi third gen-
I just purchase my 1st 88 iroc and its somewhat of a project. I bought the car needing a few things, a slave cylinder being 1 of them.
Went down to the local advance auto, purchased a new slave cylinder, installed, bled, bled, bled.....bled some more...
Get in the car and fire it up and it acts like the pedal won't engage the clutch enough. I've got a decent pedal, but I can't get the car in gear. Turn off car, put in gear and hold clutch while starting its like no clutch engagement at all- the starter makes the car move.
So, since I didn't drive the car before this I don't really know what could be the problem? It's like I need the slave cylinder to be "longer"....
Any ideas?
It's a t5 btw....
I am guessing that you bleed the slave just like you would brakes, correct? Pump up bout 10-15 times, hold the pedal, turn bleed screw and let out any air/fluid mix, repeat....fill reservoir when needed,etc...pump ....bla bla repeat...
Right?

 

I've searched in here for "bleeding slave cylinders" and haven't found a definitive answer on how it's done.
Could my problem be that I still have air in my slave?
I'm gonna try to bleed again, this time with by opening bleeder valve, my wife slowly push pedal to floor, close valve, raise pedal, open valve, slowly push pedal, check fluid, repeat..bla bla...
Does this sound right?
I've cut my straps already, should I unbolt my slave and point it downward and push the rod in a few times too?
I really could use some good advice right now...
Lastly, is it possible that I got the wrong slave? Are there different slave cylinders for WC or non-WC? Does the slave only bolt in 1 way- from the front of the car through the mounting hole with only the 2 bolts retaining it? Seems like I might get more rod length if I took off the line, put the slave through th mounting hole, then bolted it up. This would allow the "flange" of the slave cylinder hold it in place instead of the 2 bolts....but I don't think it bolts this way....

 

Well, I bled it until I'm am 99% sure there's no air in line.
Still no clutch.
So, I noticed that the clutch pedal has quite a bit of slop at the top of pedal, inspection revealed the bushing is totally shot.
Gonna be fun to try to get this out...
Would a bad bushing be enough to not let the pedal fully engage the clutch? I wouldn't think that it would be that big of a deal, however it is bout a half inch of pedal slop.
Guess I just have to narrow down issues. If not the bushing, then replace master, if not the master, then light the car on fire and burn it.....
Jk...what a pain tho....

 

Hi Gateman,
I am currently dealing with similar issues. What was your solution? How did you finally bleed the clutch?

 

Well, after removing the master cylinder, I reassembled the whole hydraulic assembly outside the vehicle an benc-bled it, then installed the whole assembly.

I figured out the hard way that you don't bleed the clutch hydraulics like brake hydraulics. "Pumping" the clutch pedal is a big no-no.

First of all, this is straight from the GM manual:

"Before removal of the clutch hydraulic system, verify the malfunction by removing the clutch housing dust shield and measure the travel of the clutch slave cylinder push rod. With clutch pedal pushed fully to the floor, the slave cylinder push rod should extend 14.53mm (0.57 inch)minimum against the clutch release lever. Do not replace the hydraulic system if push rod travel exceeds this distance."

The easiest way is to fill the resivoir, and slowly push the plunger of the slave cylinder into itself, thereby pushing all the air "upwards". Do this with the valve closed. Every 4-5 pushes, check to make sure reservoir is full. After 10-15 pushes you should be good. If its still not enough, you can open the valve very slightly, have a partner VERY GENTLY push the clutch pedal all the way in to the floorboard, close the valve and tell partner to release the pedal. If nothing else, let it sit overnight and gravity should take care.

Make sure to measure the distance of travel before you think it's hydraulic bleeding trouble! I can't stress this enough! Anything over 14.53mm or .57 inch(9/16's?) and it's NOT HYDRAULIC RELATED!!!

I figured this out the hard way. My problems turned out to be the fork arm and ball stud. Visually, while in the car everything looked up to par. Even when I disassembled it looked ok. Not until I purchased a new ball stud and fork arm did I notice the wear, probably a 1/4 inch difference, which is a lot. My throwout bearing was also wore down, probably 3/16 compared to the new throwout.

I wasn't sure what my problem was when I ordered my parts, so I ordered a new fork arm (around 30$), ball stud (2 of them, 1st was from Summit, and was wrong, the 2nd was from Hawks, only place that I could find the correct one, pricey @ around 30$), RAM throwout bearing (wanna say it was 50$?), and for added assurance I bought a .030" flywheel shim, between crankshaft and flywheel.

I don't know which was bad, but I have a new clutch master, line, and slave as well. Also check your linkage. Mine had severe slop in it, from original clutch master bushing to pedal disintegrating. New master fixed that.

If anything now, my clutch is a little high on the pedal,but I'm not sure since I never drove the car prior to these problems. It may be a smidgen high due to the .030" flywheel shim tho.

Good luck, hope it helps!

 

Guys,
I finally got it. It was air in the line.
Here is what I did:
1-filled the slave cylinder with dot 3 fluid ( with bleeding screw loose).
2-install fluid line to slave cylinder.
3-mount the cylinder.
4-fill the reservoir with fluid.
5-wait until the fluid drains out of the bleeder.
6-tighten the bleeder (at this point you have the slave and line fully bled).
7-start pumping the master (short strokes) until you feel pressure.
If this does not work it is becaause you pumped air from the master into the slave.
8-have some one hold the clutch pedle in while you manually push in the slave, open the bleeder.
9-Repaet step 8 again.
While doing this make sure you the reservoir always has fluid in it.

also check out this site, it has great info.
http://www.perfectionclutch.com/tech-support.htm