5000 clutch woes

[George Harris]

Hi Bill:

When I dropped the transmission recently on my 5000 CD TQ, it gave me a
lesson in hydraulic bleeding. Normally I don't worry about letting the
fluid drain out of the lines because on these old cars the fluid usually
needs to be changed completely anyway.

The unfortunate thing is that I didn't clean out the bleed hole when I
reassembled everything. I couldn't get it to bleed through even with a
vacuum pump. Had to remove the slave cylinder and clean it out. 

So if you haven't got this clutch working yet, that's the first thing I
would try. The slave cylinder is on the top left of the clutch housing.
There is a bleed screw pointing out to the left. It is 7 mm and requires
a deep socket to get it loose. Make sure the brake fluid reservoir is
full. If I was in a hurry, or in some parking lot using a couple of
jacks, I would just poke the bleed hole with a small nail to make sure
it isn't plugged.

I may be wrong but it appears to me that the clutch master cylinder is
inside the firewall under the clutch pedal. The fluid comes out of the
fluid reservoir from the top, so it has to be full. To pump the fluid
through, you have to pump the pedal up and down.

Good luck.

George