Trying to bleeding the clutch

[blanzawa]

I believe I have some air in the clutch line of my '86 4WD AX5. I've been having trouble with the one bolt on the release cylinder that is easily accessible even after applying PB Blaster. If the other bolt on top is anywhere near as frozen, there's no way I'm getting it off without lowering the transmission.

 

Is there an alternative way to bleed the system without removing the release cylinder? I can get to the bleeder and likely open it.

 

[eaglescout526]

86 2.5L right? Should have the external slave set up. Even if it was internal slave, the best way to bleed the system is to open the bleeder and bleed it.

[Eagle]

10 hours ago, blanzawa said:

 

Is there an alternative way to bleed the system without removing the release cylinder? I can get to the bleeder and likely open it.

 

 

??? How else would you bleed the system other than using the bleeder? That's what it's there for.

[gogmorgo]

Most if not all external slave cylinders no longer have bleed screws on them. You bleed the system by pulling the slave cylinder off the trans, still hooked up to the line, and pushing the piston in to push all the fluid and most of the air back up to the reservoir, then pull the piston back out (or let it come out on it’s own) to suck air-free fluid back into it. Do it a few times and you’ve got a fully bled system. It’s much quicker and easier than using a bleeder and pumping the clutch especially if you’re working solo. It also consumes much less fluid, so it’s not as easy to accidentally drain the reservoir and have to start all over. 

In terms of cracking the stuck bolt loose, sometimes it’s helpful to get a punch onto the head of the bolt and give it a sharp smack with a hammer, just don’t hit it hard enough to crack the bellhousing. Sometimes trying to tighten a stuck bolt slightly can help, but again don’t twist it enough to break it off. I don’t usually find that penetrating oil on a bolt head helps much unless you can get a puddle around it for a bit, but I don’t know if you can get it onto the exposed threads in this case, but if you can somehow, be very careful not to spray anything onto the clutch.

The best way to get a stuck bolt free is to use heat. Unfortunately the aluminum bellhousing is going to conduct away most of the heat so you need a pretty good heat source to get heat in faster than it can conduct away, and it’s going to be difficult in this context to be able to do that without damaging anything.

If you can get the bleeder out easily enough, that’s probably going to be your best course of action here, and consider yourself lucky you have one at all.

[blanzawa]

 

On 8/29/2020 at 11:43 PM, Eagle said:

??? How else would you bleed the system other than using the bleeder? That's what it's there for.

 

I could have been clearer with my original question. What I meant to ask was that if I could access the bleeder, was it still necessary to remove the slave cylinder to manipulate the pushrod and plunger. I now realize it's not necessary.

 

22 hours ago, gogmorgo said:

Most if not all external slave cylinders no longer have bleed screws on them. 

 

If you can get the bleeder out easily enough, that’s probably going to be your best course of action here, and consider yourself lucky you have one at all.

 

My Haynes manual covered two setups -- internal slave with bleeder and external slave without bleeder. Thanks for pointing out my good fortune.

 

On 8/29/2020 at 2:03 PM, eaglescout526 said:

86 2.5L right? Should have the external slave set up. Even if it was internal slave, the best way to bleed the system is to open the bleeder and bleed it.

 

Yes, that's right. The slave did not need to be removed. I opened up the bleeder, got some air out, and did a 20 minute test drive without any more shifting issues.

 

All that's left to fix are a stuck door lock and a window regulator. Hard to believe this thing is 34 years old and in near perfect mechanical condition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[eaglescout526]

5 minutes ago, blanzawa said:

All that's left to fix are a stuck door lock and a window regulator. Hard to believe this thing is 34 years old and in near perfect mechanical condition.

 

AMC made some good quality cars and Jeeps. The window regulator has a tube inside the door you can drown with lube and it should help free up the regulator. Soak the latch in something like vinegar or degreaser.

[Pete M]

22 hours ago, gogmorgo said:

Most if not all external slave cylinders no longer have bleed screws on them.

 

true, but parts can be replaced so you don't know without checking.  I was told repeatedly that a 2000 TJ wouldn't have a bleeder screw and yet, there it was.   

[gogmorgo]

Yes, definitely worth checking. But just because one example has it doesn’t mean the next one hasn’t already been replaced with one that doesn’t have, so it’s good to have a strategy on hand to manage that situation.
Interestingly the slave cylinder I got for my external swap on my 2.5 had the spot shaped and threaded for a bleeder, but no bleeder in the box, and the original bleed screw from my internal setup was the wrong size. I went to a great deal of effort tracking down and ordering a bleed screw to fit it before discovering that the thing wasn’t drilled through and I didn’t actually need one.