I just finished replacing the pads & rotors on my '04 MCS and am now in the process of bleeding the hydraulic system. This is still the original brake fluid (4+ years, 50,000+ miles) so I figure I'm due.

I checked this forum multiple times for handy hints on bleeding the system and my thanks to all who posted before as your information made the work much easier.

I used a Motive power bleeder, which worked well on the wheel cylinders. My only problem is bleeding the clutch slave cylinder. I was trying to remove the two 10mm bolts that hold the slave to the front of the transmission (per the instructions in the Bentley manual). The head of the lower bolt rounded off and I may have cracked the bolt. The upper bolt came out fine. The upper bolt is now back in place.

The many posts that I read indicated:

1. Bleeding the slave cylinder is not necessary
2. Bleeding the slave without compressing the piston is OK
3. Compressing the cylinder is mandatory

Which is true?

I am hoping to bleed the slave without taking it off of the car. I read in a number of posts that wedging a piece of wood between the piston rod and the clutch lever will compress the cylinder sufficiently for a thorough flush. The cylinder rod appears to be wedged pretty tightly against the clutch lever. How do you retract the cylinder? I haven't tried wedging anything (screwdriver or thin pry bar) between the rod and the lever yet. I'm asking anyone with experience on how you did this before I wreck something else.

 

You can remove the two bolts that hold the slave onto the tranny... We bleed ours by compressing the cylinder fully using a homebrew tool that we made from a piece of aluminum bar stock, two long shoulder bolts, some washers and two wingnuts. We drilled a recess in the middle of the aluminum, drilled two holes for the bolts - then, put the bar stock on the slave's end, put the bolts though the mounting holes on the slave and the bar stock, and tighten it down... $10 at Home Depot!

Also - it works best doing it the old fashioned way. Once the cylinder is compressed, send your buddy into the car to actuate the clutch while you bleed and then repeat.

It's not necessary to do every fluid change - but we do ours once a year.

 

I have done my share of brake bleeds ... and clutch....
Why the special tools.???

once done with the brakes just go to the clutch bleed screw and ... bleed similar to the brakes (buddy method, pump pump hold)

The fluid comes from the brake res and when changing fluid , I always use different colors, .. about 8 to 10 compressions of the clutch and the fluid changes color to the new one being put in...
There is not fluid any where else and the color shows me that the old is OUT ...

 

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, I didn't have anyone around last night that could help with the clutch pedal.

It turns out the reason I couldn't move the slave cylinder piston was that I forgot to release the pressure on the brake bleeder. DOH!!

Once the pressure was off, I was able to compress and finished bleeding the cylinder. Everything seems to be running fine now.

One question, the brake pedal now feels a little mushy on the first press, but firms up on the second. Does this sound like I still have air in the lines or will this go away as the pads bed in?