No Pressure in Clutch System

[CC>>Inferno]

Hi all,

I just got a 76 280Z that's been sitting awhile and the clutch goes right to the floor. I tried bleeding to no avail and then changed the slave cylinder again with no improvement. I am going to be changing the master tonight and hopefully that's it, but I'm wondering if I am missing something I should have checked before throwing the new parts at it. There aren't any leaks, and I topped of the fluid. Any Ideas?

Thanks!

[Zs-ondabrain]

When you say " I tried bleeding to no avail" did you do it yourself or with some one else in the car. One thing you can do is run some clear tubing from the bleeder on the slave, up to the resevoir on the master, then slowly pump it and watch for air bubbles and keep the fluid level up.

I'll be doing something similar to mine when I get to that point.

Dave

[CC>>Inferno]

Thanks for the reply.

I did have someone in the car to pump the clutch and there didn't seem to be any air in the system. When he pumped to build up pressure though the fluid just oozed out rather than squirting which makes me think the fluid is bypassing the seal in the master cylinder and not coming down the line to the slave.

I like the idea about the tube though, cause then it turns it into kind of a closed system and you can pump and bleed at the same time.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated otherwise I'll let you all know tomorrow if it worked.

[Jeff G 78]

I just replaced a clutch master and slave and it refused to bleed. We could pull fluid with a mighty Vac, but could never get any pedal pressure, so I sat in the car and pumped quickly while my buddy tapped on the side of the master with a screwdriver. Suddenly the air bubble was dislodged and I got pedal pressure. From there, we could bleed as usual.

[Zs-ondabrain]

Sounds about right. Sometimes, doing the bleeding with the vehicle facing down a slight incline gets the job done better, as it forces the air up toward the plunger and then the plunger forces it upwards and outwards.

Speaking of masters, I got my 15/16" ZX master cylinder today (for the 260Z's big brake set-up. And took it right to the buffer after sanding it down. I also sandblasted the Vac Booster and painted it.

Dave.

[reddie73]

Try starting at the master cylinder first to bleed the system. Pump the clutch pedal then loosen the hard line going from the master to the slave. Do this until you get a stream of fluid coming from the loosened line. You should also start to have some resistance in the clutch pedal.Don't take the line completely off , just loosen enough so the fluid and air will come out. I placed some rags and a metal can under the master cylinder to catch the fluid. I've had success with this and a long time Z car mechanic told me to try this method. I must say that these cars are a pain to get air from the clutch system.

[CC>>Inferno]

So it was the master cylinder. The new one's storke was too short so i had to swap some parts from the old to the new but i got it to work. The 280 is finally eating up the pavement again. Now I just have to address: the oil burning, the exhaust leak, the radio not working, the doors not locking, and the sluggish ignition.