I think I'm finally good to go. In my rage today I swapped the oe pedal back in. I borrowed a vacuum bleeder from advance auto, didn't work. I don't think the bleeder screw really seals through threads (topic for another day). The main reason I switched it back in was so I could tell when the pressure was sufficient to push the pedal back up. While I had the pedal out, I tried pushing the master "all the way in" as suggested in one of the countless threads I've read in the last 5 days. I'm really not sure if I was successful at this but I think it helped, even with the pedal out it is rather difficult. After the oe pedal was back in I tried gravity bleeding. This time fluid came out WAY MORE than ever before. Had a nice stream and even some bubbles in it. With the pedal back, it still required over 50 pumps before it came back up on it's own. So I went for a drive and everything seems good. Weirdly the oe pedal feels a lot more manageable than before. I think at this point I'm going to drive it as is for a few days while debating on taking it to the dealer to have "a professional" flush it.

 

So if the pedal stays on the floor just lift it up? Some other video said if the pedal is on the floor it means there is air in the system... well, then don't you have to pump it out? I heard lots of people having trouble bleeding the clutch. I don't see what the big deal is, is it really as simple as it looks in the video?

I've bled brakes and changed heads and swapped motors, so I should be ok right?

 

I don't see what the big deal is,

Lol... I hope you never do. I am no stranger to car repair either. But this was an unexpected PITA!! Never really found a good solution. In the end I took it my friend's garage, put it on a lift and we both tried bleeding it. The process didn't improve. Both our left legs were pretty tired when done. Kind of a "F this it's good enough" ending. I think the last idea I had was to replace the clutch master cylinder. Will probably do that next time I need to change the fluid.

 

Hmm... Why is it so hard to bleed the clutch???

 

I don't know. That's what was so frustrating about it. Some people have no problems. For others, it sucks. I couldn't really find a solution online.

 

Maybe I can do it in the street right outside the dealership so if I can't get it right I will just pull into their service entrance...

 

Ha! Pull, push, whatever you can do.

 

Try gravity bleeding? What exactly is the issue once the pedal is lifted up. Pedal doesn't get hard?

 

Yes. It literally takes 50 or more- push down then PULL up- before enough pressure builds for the pedal to come up on it's own. Gravity bleeding was hit or miss.

 

Sounds like a leaky master. That is, the cylinder is leaking internally where the seals don't seal well resulting in the inability to pressurize the fluid.

 

But why would the clutch function perfectly before bleeding was attempted? If the master was bad wouldn't it show symptoms before bleeding? From what I have seen people have perfectly functioning clutches but then they try to bleed and they run into unsolvable problems... It is a mystery to me because on all of my old cars I just bled like normal. Have a chump pump and hold the pedal down, I open and close the valve, do that a few times and it is good to go.

 

Good question. I don't have an answer. Judging by what others have reported before, new master seems to do the trick. Perhaps everything works ok, but due to wear, when you try to bleed it, the master is unable to push it through. Maybe you're leaving the bleeder open too long... Lots of possibilities.

 

Question: does the reservoir cap need to be on when pumping the clutch pedal? I've always pumped with the cap on because I thought if the cap was off, fluid would overflow when pumping but in the video, the helper was pumping with the cap off without any ill effects.

 

It doesn't matter. Just don't fill it up completely to the top. Leave ~1/4" from the top and you'll be fine. When pumping, pump slowly, not fast.