2005 MCS

So after disastrous but now complete replacement of the clutch slave cylinder complicated by breaking and rebuilding the slave cylinder mounting bracket...I find that the wheels turn while the clutch is pressed and I put the car into gear.

This is the setup:
- The front two wheels are still elevated.
- Engine on, I press the clutch.
- I put the car into first gear (I notice more resistance than usual).
- I keep the clutch pressed; the wheels start spinning.

Thoughts?

Is it possible that my bleed was insufficient and there is still air in the slave cylinder so that the slave cylinder does not fully extend when I press the clutch? That is, the clutch is only partially disconnecting from the transmission when I press it because there is still air in the slave cylinder?

I set up a mirror to watch the slave cylinder as I press the clutch and it does not fully extend. I would estimate the slave cylinder extends to about 50% of its total possible length when I press the clutch. Does anyone know how far the slave cylinder is supposed to extend when the clutch is engaged?

Thank you in advance!

 

Your probably exactly right, it should extend almost fully.
The slave cylinder are a PITA to bleed, I had to bleed mine at least 4 times, every time it appeared to be air free, but continued to get more and more pedal each time.

One thing that helped me was pulling the drivers wheel and inner fender well, and physically moving the slave cylinder up into the wheel opening (while still connected of course) to place the bleed screw as high as possible and getting the slave cylinder as close to vertical as possible.
Good Luck.

 

Block the clutch pedal wide open and leave it overnight.

 

If anyone else needs to bleed their slave cylinder, I strongly recommend the procedure described by BlwnAway.

I tried everything (up-and down-stream pressure, tapping the slave cylinder, pumping the pedal intermittently {see 1}, compressing the clutch overnight), but absolutely nothing worked. I would reinstall the slave and see what I described in the original post.

Finally, after contemplating towing to dealer, I reluctantly pulled the driver wheel and plastic fender (which is a total PITA due to the shoddy plastic grommets that disintegrate when you unscrew them). I shoved through the slave, tapped it, pressurized with the Motive bleeder to about 10 psi, bled out a few puny bubbles, and re-installed. Done. Worked fine immediately thereafter. This was after hours (4?, 5?) of fooling around with the other techniques.

Does anyone know the part number for those plastic screw-in grommets that hold the fender in place, btw?

For anyone who undertakes the PITA project of bleeding the pitifully-designed slave cylinder, I strongly suggest sucking it up and first doing what BlwnAway describes.

1 - https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...tructions.html