The last word, in my opinion, on bleeding our clutches

[scott.475]

You just simply have to take it out and do the bench bleeding thing. I even tried using a Motive Power Bleeder to get the bubbles out, for a several hours, and got nowhere. I was able to remove the hole shebang, bench bleed it, and get it back in in 1.5-2 hours, and it is working better than I ever remember it working before. I rigged it up so the cylinder was horizontal and the fill reservoir was vertical above it, and I saw those cursed bubbles burp right to the top. I then cycled several reservoirs worth of fluid through jsut to make sure, then replaced the whole system and VOILA!...a smooooth shifting tranny!

Anyway, jsut thought I would throw this out there, because reading about bech bleeding you think "That will take forever!", but it is actually relatively easy, and it is WAY MORE productive time spent than the constant, fruitless "pump ten times and hold", or whatever the recommended method is (I already forgot, must be repressing that bad memory". I even tried bleeding it with the Explorer on an incline to try and level off the cylinder, but still no luck.

Just bench bleed it, baby!

 

[Jason94sport]

Motorcraft slaves direct from Ford tend to bleed easier then aftermarket ones. When I had my manual I didn't have any problem bleeding mine.

 

[Creager]

Scott, you are pretty much dead on with what you are supposed to do. LUK recommends removing the master cylinder, reservoir and positioning them higher. Bleeding the thing on the bench would achieve the same goal. I think I'm going to follow your idea, as I soon will be bleeding my slave in the next month or so.

 

[410Fortune]

goodbye Mazda 5 speed, hello 4r70w

I got so sick of those internal slave cylinders....argh