Hello, I need some help please. My 90 accord is having major clutch pressure issues. I have replaced the master and slave cylinders. I have bled the system very well yet I still have no pedal. I am getting really irritated. I have never had this much trouble bleeding a clutch. I hooked a clear hose to the bleeder on the slave cylinder and the other in into a container half full of brake fluid. I had a friend pump the clutch by hand at least a 100 times and I still have no pedal. I am getting fluid out and I am keeping the reservoir full but having no luck. I am very frustrated with this car right now. I have searched the web every where and everything says "bleed the system", well I have several times over and that has not worked. So I joined this forum hoping you guys can help me out. I love my Honda but man have I been hating it the past couple of days. PLEASE HELP

 

The way I usually do it is loop a string around the pedal to pull it up - the pedal will not spring back up when bleeding.

Control it with your foot. I've noticed if you let the pedal "snap" upwards, that sucks air into the system.

 

That is not the problem even though I appreciate your suggestion. I had a friend pumping the petal using their hand so it was lifted up and down slowly.

 

Since it's installed, maybe this is too late... but did you bench-bleed the master cylinder?

You might also try to reverse-bleed the system. Figure out a way to pump fluid into the slave bleed-screw; I've used a pressure-bleeder and some people have used a Mity-Vac set for pressure rather than vacuum. Then remove fluid from the reservoir before it overflows onto the paint. This way you're pushing the air-bubbles "uphill" and not fighting against their buoyancy.

 

How about a careful inspection of the parts that you didn't replace. Particularly the rubber-hose section of the clutch hydraulic lines. Anything looks ratty in that area?

 

Finally, the adjustment on the clutch-pedal pushrod. The master cylinder has a vent into the reservoir, and that vent has to be open a bit to allow pressure to equalize.

If you try to adjust for a slightly lower or higher pedal, the MC piston isn't in the right place for that vent. Pedal height shouldn't be adjusted for personal preference.

 

JimBlake,

What a very knowledgeable post. I actually started the gravity feed last night, but never could get fluid to start draining down to the slave. I first noticed there was a lot of sludge built up in the reservoir so I removed it and cleaned it throughly. I also blew low air pressure thru the system to make sure there was no slugde in the lines, but had no luck with it gravity feeding the fluid to the slave. I am not sure if the MC is keeping that from happening or not? I plan on trying to reverse vacuum fluid to the slave tonight or pumping fluid thru the slave to the reservoir. I am hoping one of those will help. I will also check the push rod on the clutch. I actually have it pretty far because I was figuring the more the travel better it would be to bleed the system. The hose attached to the reservoir looks pretty good, but I will change that out just to be sure. With the holiday being tomorrow I may work on it then instead of tonight, but regardless I will let you know. Again thank you very much for your post. I am keeping my fingers crossed it works.

 

JimBlake,

I just wanted to let you know I finally got it working! It was a pain, but I got it! There were a combination of things. I left the top off the reservoir all day and night and the bleeder open on the slave. Never drained down one drop. So I took the line off on the master, disconnected the hose from the reservoir and blew air thru it. Oh before I did that I did a vacuum from the slave bleeder down, no luck. Well after I blew the air thru the hose and thru the master I put it back together. I started pumping and bleeding. I finally started getting fluid to the slave and could feel a slight difference in the pedal. I then put a hose on the slave bleeder and put the other end in a container of brake fluid. Had my girlfriend come out and pump the clutch. After about an hour (maybe not that long, but close) of her pumping it 10 times at a time and then holding it and me barely breaking the bleeder to just let the fuild out I finally got good pedal. I have never seen one so hard to bleed in my life. Oh, I also had to adjust the clutch rod as you suggested. Again thank you for your post, great info. I am hoping this helps others in the future. Key thing for me to remember in the future is clean the reservoir and the lines out throughly before ever beginning to bleed the system.

 

Thanks for coming back with the rest of the story. Many times we never find out what worked, what didn't.

(I was on vacation all last week anyway...)