x type clutch hydraulics

[jagmanal]

Having done a repair job on the brakes and successfully bled them I moved the car only to find the clutch was now biting close to the floor. Knowing that the reservoir was common to both systems I decided to bleed the clutch, with the bleed nipple on the slave cylinder well open I am getting nothing out and no drop in reservoir level. I thought the master cylinder piston had stuck down and tried air pressure to move it with no change, I then tried forcing fluid in through the slave bleed nipple but it is being met with complete resistance. It seems the problem is that fluid is not getting into the master cylinder but am at a loss as to what else I can do so any suggestions welcome. I have replaced the master cylinder and slave cylinder not that many thousands of miles ago so I doubt if it is a cylinder problem.

[jagmanal]

I have had a bit of progress with this problem, I have slowly increased the pressure I was applying to the system at the slave cylinder bleed nipple and finally it showed signs of reaching the reservoir and since then the level in the reservoir has continued to drop which it wasn't doing before so at least now I have fluid in the system. As a word of warning, if you apply too much pressure to the system you are likely to end up with a big bang and brake fluid everywhere so this should only be done very cautiously, I kept increasing the compressor pressure in 5 pound increments so that I could observe the effects but not going over 30psi, my safety net was the connection to the bleed nipple was via a rubber hose pushed onto it so must likely would have blown off first.

[Dave Eynon]

Hi Jagmanal
Has that overcome the problem now and your clutch returned to normal operation? If so any thoughts on how to avoid this next time the brakes are bled, perhaps at the biannual fluid change?
Thanks

[jagmanal]

Unfortunately the hydraulics are still dead in the water! I now have hydraulic fluid running through the system and you can see fluid being pushed out during bleeding but still not getting pressure on the pedal. I can see that another master cylinder change is appearing on the horizon which is not the easiest job. The clutch pedal went limp just after we got the car at 98,000 miles and I changed the master cylinder in the hope the problem was there but no luck and then had to remove the gearbox to do the slave but I seem to recall that bleeding didn't go easily, bearing in mind that it has now only done 104,000 miles that isn't very far for new cylinders to go wrong again.

[Dave Eynon]

Not having experienced this myself I can't offer any better ideas as like you, I would investigate and do the easy jobs first leaving the most onerous till last.
In the absence of any other advice from members an email of phone call to David Marks would be very helpful and might save you time and money. That would be my route for help and advice. Please keep us posted.
Dave