CGT Clutch Slave Cylinder R&R Success

[rob hod]

    Hi Britt,

    Glad you found the write up useful. I've never ever used a positive
pressure system, but I know that they work well, It's just that I've always
got by without them and been lucky enough to have a 'willing' volunteer. I
believe that you would usually have a pressurised air source, and an adaptor
to go on the top of the reservoir. Then you simply open the bleed nipple and
wait for the fluid to flow clear, clean and free of air bubbles.
Using this method you must have the pedal fully up as that is the position
where the the reservoir is open to the rest of the system.

    As far as the 100/CGT clutch hydraulics go I believe they are very
similar indeed. Although I own a 100 it is an auto so I can't speak for
sure. I have the legendary  Haynes manual of imprecision and omission for
both and they look the same, but the wierd thing is that the CGT manual
speaks of normal bleeding whereas the 100 manual says that only pressure
bleeding will work. The only thing I came up with is as a reason for
pressure bleeding is that you can't prime the slave cylinder before
installation as it will get squirted out when you install it. Not a big deal
and the problem is the same for both cars. Go figure.

    Bleeding manually is a doddle but only if both master and slave are in
good order;
    First find a willing asisstant who sits in the car.!
    Then do the following a few times;

    Fill your reservoir to 'Max' , put some polytube over the bleed nipple
draining into a container and then open the bleed nipple. You say 'Down' and
your assistant presses the clutch pedal down. They repeat 'down' when
they've hit bottom.
    You close the bleed nipple - for a clutch system I find that finger
tight is enough while bleeding.
    You say "up", they  let the pedal up, or in the case of 'over-centre'
pedals, they may have to manually pull up the pedal. your faithful assistant
confirms 'up' status when it is acheived. Repeat as necessary.

    The first couple of strokes may not seem to accomplish much, but after
this you should see fluid getting gulped into system from the reservoir each
time the pedal returns to 'up' and the MC internal valve to the reservoir
opens. A few times later and you should be getting a good healthy squirt of
fluid out of the bleed nipple each time. Don't skimp on this operation. Buy
a litre bottle of fluid and really flush that stuff through the system. When
you get to this stage nip the bleed nipple up (carefully, they're fragile)
and see how the system feels, should feel good!

    If this procedure is not working then you have a problem with a
component.
    I'd *always* recommend replacing both Slave and master at the same time
as they both wear at the same rate, (and will continue to just-about work
long after their efficiency has lapsed badly) and 10-15 years is a good
lifespan for these items.  If you do both at once you will be much less
likely to have bleeding troubles caused by the part you didn't replace being
weak.

    Well hope this collection of ramblings helps


rob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Britt Crowell" <britt at fortcollins.com>
To: <rob3 at hod3.fsnet.co.uk>
Cc: <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2002 12:46 AM
Subject: Re:CGT Clutch Slave Cylinder R&R Success


Rob,
 Thanks for the great right up. I have a 88' 5ktq that I just got the master
cly. replaced on today. Decided to just bleed the system to get it going
with out replacing the slave (might go wack on it tomorrow since i have the
part anyway.) But in messing around with trying to bleed the system today, I
dont think im doing it right. I have a mighty vac that I was putting on the
slave nipple and sucking on but I had no one to actuate the clutch at that
time. Could you give me some more detail on  how you bled the system? ie how
I should do it. The Bentley said something about a positive pressure system
(should I reverse my mighty vac?)

Thanks
Britt