MG MGB and MGB GT Tech Talk
Okay. . so. . I'm sure the answer to this is to check the cylinder and then check the slave cylinder and then to check for cracked hoses and leaks.
Well. . it comes down to this. I can turn the car over no problem. . but when i push in the clutch. . its almost as if its not connected to anything. I have filled the Slave Cylinder and pumped the crap out of the pedal but nothing. .
Help! What can I do? I'm planning on selling my Limited Edition soon!
have someone do a visual on the slave as your pushing down on the clutch pedal,
if it moves foward all is good on that end if not you have air in the system or the master is gone.
Sounds like the system needs to be bled. Do a search on this site, there is alot of info on the bleeding procedure.
peace, Kyle
While we're on clutches, how about the opposite? What would make it go stiff? I mean this thing is like a nautalis (sp?) machine. Car has not run in several years and I'm just now sorting out the issues.
I just finished rebuilding the slave cylinder, new hose, lines, and MC. Took forever pumping and refilling the cylinder to get any pressure. I found that I wasn't topping up the cylinder frequently enough so I'd be pumping air back into the system. Finally caught on to that and managed to get some pressure and movement of the slave. My question is, how much movement of the slave is enough? I'm getting about 1/2-3/4" of movement and that seems like too little?
Steve, maybe one of the cylinders is frozen, or the line is blocked. Now if it were one of those "Mustangs", I would say it's normal, lol.
peace, Kyle
Bill , i posted some pics of the trash from my slave cylinder. The big chunks act like check valves and stop valves , making it impossible to add or release pressure. After seeing the trash( brake line parts) I would never consider working on the brake cylinders or clutch slave without replacing the relatively cheap flex lines.
A while back, I think it was Mac who posted what sounded like a neat way to bleed brakes and clutch. I had never heard of it before, but it makes sense.
I think the way he explained it was to remove the MC cap and use a hose on the bleeder at the cylinder and a squeeze bottle or turkey baster, and very slowly add fluid from that end until your MC was filled. You may find out more about it by doing a search, or maybe someone will chime in with more info.
Tom
I use the big syringe method, get one at Tractor Supply or the like and use a length of plastic hose that will slide onto the end of said syringe and the bleeder nipple and force fluid from bottom to top. Just watch it or you will overflow the master. The clutch master empties so fast that it is hard to do it any other way. For brakes I just use a Mighty-Vac.
I used the syringe method from the bottom and it worked great. The trick is to go slow so you 1) don't overfill the master and 2) you don't add little tiny air bubbles.
They will get in there if you don't think they will.
sam
RobertsMGB Wrote:
RobertsMGB Wrote:
I've used the turkey injector method and it works great. To prevent overfilling the master I filled the master then pulled the fluid from the master to the syringe then pumped it into the slave. This way you can't overfill the mc.
"Push Bleeding" a clutch or brake system.
The concept: use a large syringe (I don't think a turkey baster will generate enough pressure--and what a mess when the bulb pops off!) to push brake fluid in from the wheel cylinders/slave cylinder. Veterinary supply or large pet supply places will have a 60cc syringe that is perfect. you will need tubing that fits over the taper on the syringe AND another piece that will fit tightly over that tubing. This latter piece will also fit over the bleed screws. (the syringe is also useful for adding oil to the steering rack, etc).
for a photo of such a lashup see www.adcomgraphics.com/uploads/brakesyringe.pdf (I haven't put it there yet as of 10/2/07 but will tomorrow).
One could use a MityVac, but mine has so many pieces that fit together and leak that I consider it a waste of money. Your Mileage May Vary. (YMMV)
In Practice:
Clutch: most slave cylinders these days come with the bleeder screws in the bottom hole. Conventional wisdom says this is wrong and you must move it to the upper hole so it "will bleed". Ignore conventional wisdom here. Leave the bleed screw at the bottom and install the slave cylinder with the hose connected to the top port. (note: if you already moved the hose/screw, and cannot bleed the cylinder right, switch them back and proceed).
Empty the master cylinder....use the syringe to suck it out and discard. Fill the syringe with new juice and crack the bleed screw. connect the tubing lines and squirt the stuff in. Slowly. Too fast and you can create air bubbles. One load should fill the slave and put fluid over the hole in the bottom of the master. Get up and check! If the fluid in the master is slightest biut dirty, suck it in and discard and put more new stuff in the slave. Careful because it is easy to overfill this little MC. So use 15-30cc for second shots with an empty MC. As soon as the MC has a level above the holes and the juice is clear, fill it as normal from the car (or the syringe!) and cap it. Oh...tighten the bleed screw when you disconnect the syringe.
Brakes:
Same thing, but 4 times. Start at RR, LR, RF, LF.
Make sure to empty the MC after each injection. You don't want the MC overflowing! That is the only thing you will maybe want a second person for.
The process is also fast and solid for flushing the clutch/brake system. (better, IMHO, that the "suck and spit" systems in use commercially...sucking generates air bubbles so you can't really tell if you are bled or not.). Commercial one-man systems work fine, but they cost many many times the $10 or less this lashup involves.
Mac, I like it! I remember seeing some motorcycle suppliers that had similar rigs all set up. And probably near the same size. I'll have to look and see if they still have them available.
OOOOhh. Maybe I could adapt the lower unit filler pump for my old boat I sold last year (an I/O). It screwed right onto the bottle as well so it didn't leak when (not if) I'd knock it over. That would be great if this works. I'll let you all know.
Bill, I have one of those pumps you're talking about - I'd like to know if it works. I've used the one I have to fill my side-fill gearbox, but I could get another one for brakes and clutch if it will screw onto the bottle and doesn't put air into the system.
For a test, you might try a long length of clear tubing to another bottle so you could see if any air bubbles ended up in the tubing.
jdeluke137 Wrote:
the advantage of limiting the capacity to a couple ounces is that it then becomes hard to overflow the MC.
with the smaller volume you are pretty much required to get up to refill and chack the MC level after each shot. But the volume is such that only one shot should be required for each wheel anyway.
you don't want to fill the MC from one wheel! just get it over the holes in the bottom and fill from the top when you are done.
no real need to bleed the syringe since any air induced will be forced to the MC and the bubble will pop and it'll be gone.
Its probably worth just reminding those who don't know that clutch fluid is an EXCELLENT paint stripper.
I had a tough time this summer stripping the varnish off the transom of a ChrisCraft I'm working on. I ran out of zipstrip so I brushed on some used DOT3 and it nearly boiled off of the wood...it worked better in fact. Once the gunk was scraped off, the wood just needed a bit of sanding, just like with commercial strippers.
Not too worried about the B. Once the mechanicals are confirmed, she'll get stripped back, some work on the tins, and then painted. Sounds so simple doesn't it? Yeah right!
Good news....`the "Outboard type" pump worked like a charm. In fact, the pump was strong enough I used a length of tubing long enough to reach the rear brakes while standing at the MC , making monitoring the fluid level very easy....NICE!
mac townsend Wrote: