I tried bleeding at the Slave cylinder, and got a lot of air out with some fluid. Finally lost all pedal pressure, and no more fluid will pump out to complete bleeding.

At this point I am not sure if it is the Slave or Master cylinder that is bad.
I think it is most likely the Slave, as I can hear a small amount of movement at the rear of the car when the pedal is push to the floor. But not absolutely sure if it is the Slave.

Any good ideas to determine if Slave or Master cylinder is the bad unit?

Thanks for any help.

I would try the slave first. They are cheap enough, and available at local parts stores. I chased an issue with a formula that ended up replacing everything. Guess what the last part was?
If the master was bad, it usually leaks into the inside of the car and you will have moisture under the carpet by the pedal.

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11 Camaro SS/RS
86 Fiero GT
03 Silverado 3500 Duramax! (Stacked, Tuned, Mean as Hell)
07 Suburban LT2
09 Avalanche LT3

quote Originally posted by pontiackid86: i'm sure i could fly a plane no problem.

I just finished re-bleeding and setting up mine.

First thing is to jack the rear left corner of the car up high enough for the bleed screw on the slave to be higher than the throat. Also, this makes the slave higher than the master.

Keep the master with enough fluid or you will get a big ol' bubble at the start.

Use a piece of wood the right length to wedge between the pedal and your seat with the pedal to the floor.

Open the bleeder and close it again. Take out the piece of wood. Push the pedal back down with the piece of wood and open the bleeder again. Check the little reservoir. It should be lower. Keep doing this until the push rod on the slave extends about 3/4". Also, you should have no play in the pedal. Make sure that when the pedal moves even a little, that you see movement on the push rod. You just have to keep going until the pedal firms up and the pushrod comes out.

One thing some guys don't think of. Is the armature of the pedal slack or loose? Is the banjo slack or loose? Does the pedal wiggle with finger pressure? Any of these things will cause the clutch not to dissengage fully.

Rodney makes an adjustable banjo THIS IS A REALLY GOOD IDEA.

Hope this helps.

Arn

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quote Originally posted by hdryder: Finally lost all pedal pressure, and no more fluid will pump out to complete bleeding.

For this portion of your post, I would suspect the seals on the inside of the master are bad. You should be moving fluid if the master is good.

[This message has been edited by olejoedad (edited 04-21-2012).]

I agree that the seals can do that, but the much more common problem is letting the reservoir get too low during the process. You then get a pretty big bubble. If the back end of the car isn't higher than the front, the bubble just sits there.

I would do the procedure I described.

Also, if you can try bleeding through the master fitting that also helps, but again, you need that piece of wood to hold the pedal down while you tighten the fitting.

Arn

quote If the back end of the car isn't higher than the front, the bubble just sits there.

Do the laws of physics work backwards where you live than the rest of the world?

Gremlins live in the fiero,, air bubbles demand the driver side rear be jacked up to bleed the slave
bleed the master first ,helps to have in jacked up in front
fiero rule # one== EVERY FIERO SHOULD HAVE A DOUBLE SEAL PISTON IN THE SLAVE CYLINDER THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE, if you have a brand new single seal slave cylinder ,,Immediately order a double seal slave piston from RODNEY DICKMAN,,following this rule will save your transmission if you have not already ruined it.
Fiero rule # 2,,ALWAYS use V8 archie bleed method ,just google V8 archie clutch bleed method
when you have a proper 2 seal piston in your slave then worry about the master

Why are the Slave cylinders such a problem?
The guy I bought the car from about a year ago, put in a new Slave cylinder the day I picked it up, and now it appears it has failed already.

The one he put in looks like a steel one, and the one I bought at AutoZone today is cast iron.

UPDATE: I will try bleeding the system again, with the old Slave cylinder, using the Archie bleeding steps.

[This message has been edited by hdryder (edited 04-21-2012).]

I put a cast one on a couple of years ago and so far as I can tell, it's a whole lot better.

Like Uhlanstan says, you jack the rear left up to get that bleeder nipple high and just work it.

And don't do what I did. I forgot to check my reservoir one time and got a big ol' bubble which took a long time to get out.

Arn

So much misinformation in the previous posts.............

1. Bleeding works best with a helper.

2. The car can be level on the ground, upside down, standing on the rear bumper, IT DOESN'T MATTER!

3. Pre-fill the slave with brake fliud by pushing the rod completely into the slave and sucking fluid into the bleeder with a piece of tubing into a container of brake fluid. Move the rod in and out about 1/4" to remove air bubbles from the slave.

4. Before installing the slave on the hydraulic line, have your helper slowly push on the clutch pedal to force new fluid through the line. Keep an eye on the reservoir, you can only get three pumps before emptying the reservoir. Be sure to have a piece of plastic tubing onto the line so you can see the air bubbles come out of the line and also catch the brake fliud in a container.

5. After the line is pre bled, attach the new slave to the line, tighten the fitting and install the slave to the bracket.

6. Attach the plastic tubing to the bleeder, loosen the bleeder slightly, and have your helper slowly push on the pedal. Close the bleeder. Check the reservoir on the master.

7. Open the bleeder and push the rod back into the slave. Watch for air bubbles. With the bleeder open, and the rod pushed into the slave, have your helper slowly push on the pedal. Watch for air bubbles. Check the reservoir on the master.

8. Repeat step 7 until no air bubbles come out of the tubing.

DO NOT PUMP UP THE SYSTEM AND THEN OPEN THE BLEEDER! All you will do is create a lot of little tiny bubbles out of the larger bubbles that may be in the system.

This proceedure works every time. Do not loosen the bleeder very much, it only needs to be cracked open enough to let the fluid move.

Most systems can be bled in three pumps of the pedal. It should not take more that 15 minutes to bleed the system, and that's working slowly.

The car does not have to be jacked up in the rear to bleed the system.

Properly bled, you will get almost an inch of rod travel.

Rodney's slave cylinders are by far the best I've seen.

[This message has been edited by olejoedad (edited 04-21-2012).]

If the fluid level rises in the reservoir when you press the clutch pedal it usually means the master is shot. thats how i checked mine and turned out it was right

This looks like a good technique to try for hydraulic clutch system bleeding.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdf--suwqw0

[This message has been edited by hdryder (edited 04-24-2012).]