s13 master clutch cylinder replacement nightmare... please help

[Fenvy]

at this point, I am very frustrated. I was at it with a friend from 2pm to 8pm and I am ready to pay someone to finish if I have to. Let me know if you know how and if you live in southern california.



Basically, thinking that I have done something like this on my intergra before, I figured that it would be the same. Anyways, I have a broken master clutch cylinder, it leaks through the seal and makes it hard to shift.

I bought a replacement at autozone for 25$, I made sure that the pump and the part where the clutch pedal mounts to is the same distance as the old as orginal one. They are about 5 inchs aparts, from the mounting holes to the actual pump.

Not wanting to bleed the system, we removed the 2 nuts holding the master clutch cylinder and pulled it out from the firewall. We then had something under it and catch the dot 3 fluid as we unscrew the metal line that goes across the firewall and down to the rectangle box where the bleed valve #1 is (refer to the pic).

We put everything back, filled up the master clutch cylinder with dot 3 fluid and decided to pump it. It drops to the floor. We start pumping it and it doesn't seem to do anything. So I got down there and untighten the bleed valve 1. So we were at this for some times, he pumps, I bleed then tighten... pump again and it didn't do much. So we figured that the air goes back in from the bleed valve #1 so we went the fish store and bought some clear hose that fits around the bleed valve #1. We are at it again. this time I can see air bubble coming out at the first 3 bleeding but there are no more after that. We must have bleed the thing for at lease 10 times and still no pressure, the pedal sinks to the floor.

So I figured that we did something wrong. So We tried to bleed the bleed valve #2 (refer to the photo) and some air bubble came out but no more after 3 or 4th bleed. Still no pressure. At this point we are not sure what to do. We pump it 15 times per bleed but no pressure is gained after we stop. We followed the line from master cylinder to the 1st bleed valve, all hoses, then to the 2nd bleed valve and transmission: nothing is leaking anywhere. We figured that okay.... maybe we are unlucky and we got a bad master clutch cylinder so we put the old one back and it's still the same: no pressure at the clutch pedal so we know we didn't install it incorrectly. We tried to bleed it again and we did it until both valve have no more air bubbles coming out from it. We made sure that the master clutch cylinder is always filled with fluid so no additional air is sucked in.

Last thing I noticed is that if we pump it really fast we get lots of pressure from the pedal but as soon as we stop and let it sit for 5 seconds, the pressure from the pedal is gone.

What should I do? What did I do wrong? Please help.

[NISTECH]

these cars are a real pain to bleed due to the stupid dampner loop. Alot of guys eliminate that part because of this problem. It makes the pedal and clutch feel a bit more firm. The trick is use a bungy cord hooked under the pedal run up and hooked to the steering wheel. so the pedal will return rapidly. run your clear fishing tube into a bottle of brake fluid. hook it to the bleeder on the loop block. open the bleeder and have your freind pump the hell out of the pedal while the valve is open and you are tapping on the loop. shut the valve off. and hook up to the bleder valve oin the slave cyl(on the trans) in the same manner have him pump the hell out of the clutch again with your tube in the bottle of brake fluid and the valve open. In both cases the tube needs to be submerged in the fluid.

You should have bench blead the mastercyl before installing it this way most of the air in it would have been eliminated and bleeding at the 2 ports under the car may not have been necessary.