The Saga of Series Clutch Cylinders. Bleeding......

Renewed the clutch Master and Slave cylinders today along with the pipework between the two.

I went for the Bearmach System so thought all would match to ease installation. First thoughts were the slave has its bleed nipple on the bottom and the pipework couldnt be altered to switch it round and I also had to buy the master adapter and copper washer to complete the kit. Too late its going on.... the one that came off was the same.

Fitting was well documented and easily followed steps made the job if not easy, easily understood. Then it came to bleeding. A quick search on ere ended up with about an hours reading and every conceivable way of priming and bleeding is blundered through, all advocated as the sure fire way to success and none of them seemed to be working. That clutch wasnt budging.

So here it is.................... the way that worked for me, without special tools or spending money or moydering anyone.



First off, get the system full of fluid. Not that easy. With nowt in the pipes the master cylinder just pushes air in and out of the tubing and refuses to operate the one way valve that stubbornly wont fill the cylinder from the built in reservoir.
Easily sorted, Prime the cylinder. Get a helper to sit in the cab and operate the clutch pedal. You on the other hand, unscrew the pipe on the master cylinder. Once fully stomped on you simply stick your thumb over the end of the adapter whilst your glamorous assistant slowly lifts the clutch pedal. You can then fully enjoy the level dropping in the reservoir giving you a nice warm feeling inside. Do this a couple of times with copious amounts of old tee shirt in, under and around everything to mop up the waste.


Ah I hear you ask, whats the glass for...............
Next step is to prime the pipework. Pop your chosen receptacle under the end of the pipework and fill with fluid.
Some of this will be lost as the pipe is reattached to the master (the bit in the tight turn) but not enough to stop the flow when bleeding later.



Ask your assistant to top up the nutella jar as necessary then get yourself under that slave cylinder.

With the aid of the usual rubber tube stolen from your goldfish aquarium, start the siphon process off by opening the slave nipple, attaching the tube and sucking for a few seconds. Dont suck too long. Your only shifting the fluid over that tight bend at the other end, once its below this gravity will bring it down to your waiting jam jar.



Let it run for a few moments then nip up the bleed nipple. Hey presto the system is now full of the most fowl tasting gunk you have ever spat all over the garage floor.

Back at the master end you can quickly pop the open pipe back on the master and start the bleeding.

Usual script.............. Press clutch pedal - open nipple......... close nipple release pedal.

Jobs agud en.

Comprehensive job instruction there Bobs, with good pics, thanks.
I have had a deal of success doing the reverse bleeding pushing fluid back up through the bleed nipple of Landy clutches. Did it recently on my mates S1, on the brakes this time, the old Landy has a low down master cylinder and a lot of air traps, so we primed all the lines back from the wheel cylinder bleeders, it made the job quicker/easier.

You know me. Too tight to buy a pump or syringe. I’ll run it for a few days then bleed again just to be sure all the air is out. Might need a small adjustment on the travel as the bite point has moved from the very top of the pedal travel to the lower end but no issues apart from the fact I’m not used to it being there.

I did this when I saw it.

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/how-to-clutch-remote-bleed.261849/

lot easier than pissing about underneath

forgot to say, excellent write up.

I have never had any problems bleeding either new clutch or brake systems.
I use the wait and see system,Gravity.Fill reservoir with fluid open nipple and wait for fluid to come out, a few min's at most.
One thing you must not do is push new cylinder pistons in [ master or slave] when new and dry,they can stick.

I put a few drops of fluid in them before fitting.

tottot said:

I have never had any problems bleeding either new clutch or brake systems.
I use the wait and see system,Gravity.Fill reservoir with fluid open nipple and wait for fluid to come out, a few min's at most.
One thing you must not do is push new cylinder pistons in [ master or slave] when new and dry,they can stick.

I put a few drops of fluid in them before fitting.

Click to expand...

How does the fluid defy gravity and flow up hill over the first bend in the pipework?

The top of the bend is lower than the top of the reservoir on my series 3 and my 2 has the combined reservoir.

tottot said:

The top of the bend is lower than the top of the reservoir on my series 3 and my 2 has the combined reservoir.

Click to expand...

Ah right. On this one with it needing the adapter on top of the master cylinder, the bend is higher than the reservoir. The fluid wouldn’t pass the one way valve either with no pressure.

Have done other peoples like yours,a couple of short pumps needed to start it off, once res level starts to drop on it's own just wait for fluid to exit the slave.
I do repeat that most problems with bleeding are due to new parts being dry and then sticking. Once a master cylinder piston starts moving it cuts off the reservoir supply and if it then sticks in some no more fluid will enter the system no matter how much the pedal is pumped.

Even with the cylinder primed and the pipework re connected, the piston would only draw air from the pipework not pull any fluid past the valving. It just ended up blowing the fluid from the master down the pipework then nothing. I presume it couldnt open the valve whilst the pipework remained air filled and proved it by filling it up manually.

Anyway.................. anyone having trouble and dunt want to start buying pressure bleeders now have a few simple steps to success. I was hoping this thread wouldnt turn into the same old list of ways that might work or have you tried this and that but hey ho................. this one works.

Thank goodness I wrote this down. It came in very handy today.

Henry peed himself.