Hi. My clutch pedal was going to the floor in my e36...

Hi. My clutch pedal was going to the floor in my e36. So i bled the slave cylinder and nothing changed and barely any fluid came out. So i replaced the slave cylinder(after dropping the tranny to get a bolt i dropped because e36s have a ****ing glaring design flaw with how the slave is installed) and i got nothing but air when i bled it. So i replaced the master cylinder and noticed there wasn't any fluid coming out of the hose to the resevoir so i sucked on it with a shop vac to try to fix the clog (?) and barely got any fluid out. I thought maybe it's normal so I just installed the master cylinder and bled it. No fluid still from the slave cylinder. Wtf do i need to do to make my fucjing shitbox work

same reservoir for the brake master cylinder or is it separate?

Same resevoir. Odd note: when i was vacuuming the line i felt suction when i put my hand over the fill hole of the resevoir with the cap off, but little fluid is sucked

How much of the clutch line are you able to see? I recall my G35 had a fucking loop in the clutch hardline and that made bleeding it a retarded 3 man job.

I wonder if its a lack of flow issue due to a blockage at your reservoir or is it corrosion or something causing a blockage en route from your clutch master cylinder to the slave. See how much of the lines you can disconnect and verify that they are not leaking and they're not blocked solid with some sort of junk.

I don't think theyre leaking. Would it be dumb to shove air in it with an air compressor? The lines are seized pretty bad and are also a nightmare to get to, i hope that is last resort

As in literally a circle by design? Like you were able to bleed it after pumping the shit out of it? I dont think my master has enough suction to do that. I didnt feel much at all but it did squirt liquid if i bench bleed it so i think it works

spraying some compressed air with the master and slave cylinders disconnected sounds ok to try and dislodge anything in there.

Just pull the plastics and see if any of your clutch lines externally are a damp, might explain why your pedal went soft to begin with.

Im sorry, what plastics?

most of my clutch line is obscured by the driver's front wheel well splash shield doohickey. Unless all of yours are out in the open, which would be convenient, its likely covered up by splash shields and stuff like that

Literally a circle by design. I was in the car jack-rabbiting the clutch pedal up and down, one guy was on the floor opening and closing the slave bleeder screw and one guy was uptop filling up the reservoir (separate reservoir for the lose)

pic related

Ohhhhh. Okay. I think my problem is a clog. Ima try to blow it out through the top with compressed air. Thanks dude. All of my covers n shit are off its just a pain to get to :/ intake manifold is actually off right now

You probably didn't bleed it correctly. The clutch fluid draws from the top of the brake master cylinder to make sure you don't lose brakes if the clutch system leaks. You need to either use a pressure bleeder or keep it completely topped up while doing a vacuum bleed.

There's also a check valve going into the clutch master that can cause issues. I doubt you have a clog in the line to a degree where pedal pressure is letting no fluid to the slave bleeder.

Lastly, push the slave cylinder closed while bleeding it (you'll need to take it back out). I'm about 99.99% sure your issue is due to human error and not a clog, and if it was clogged to the point that pedal pressure can't push it through there's no use using air, it's not going to do anything.

Honestly dude i have no idea what you're saying, im sorry. Does the clutch master cylinder connect to the brake master cylinder or just to the same resovoir? I am using a shop vac to suck the fluid out with a straw out of the fill line to the clutch master cylinder and am not getting any fluid, so im thinking if a shop vac is having a bitch of a time sucking the fluid out, the dinky pump on the master cylinder would just not be able to.


My battery is disconnected, is this relevant??

>Honestly dude i have no idea what you're saying, im sorry. Does the clutch master cylinder connect to the brake master cylinder or just to the same resovoir?

The clutch master draws from the top of the brake master reservoir. There is a check valve in that line before it hits the brake master so it can't flow backwards. You don't need a shop vac, shop air, and the battery disconnected does not matter. Do you have a pressure bleeder or vacuum bleeder? If not it's going to be a huge pain in the ass. Spend some time looking at diagrams of the system until you understand what's going on instead of throwing parts at it. The main thing you need to understand is if the brake master reservoir drops below the level of the feed line (which is ~50% full or so) while you are bleeding it you are introducing air into the line and it won't work.

Connecting the vacuum bleeder to the slave bleed valve?

Here I had my BMW tech friend send me the official procedure

As an Infiniti tech, thats the dumbest fucking way of going about it I've ever heard

I'm willing to believe that's out of an official e36 service manual. I'm also running to walmart for brake fluid. Thank you. I'm not quite sure what a check valve is

Replaced the flex line with a braided SS line. About a year later had slipping issues, turns out it was the slave screwing off.

For the life of us, we couldn't get the fucker to bleed. Ended up going through a shit ton of fluid. Only way we got solid flow was jack-rabbing the FUCK out of the pedal. The whole non-returning clutch pedal meant I had to do it by hand.

Check valve means the fluid can only travel from the reservoir to the clutch master, and not the other way

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Not OP, but your BMW tech friend sounds like a pretty cool dude.

Thanks heartbreaker. I got it to bleed. Didnt realise how obvious it was until now. I was thinking the line was on the bottom like the brake fluid. I kinda like the design

why is it called a master when its still at the mercy of The Driver, the true master™

In my shop the owner makes us call it the "satellite cylinder" after some bitch in a VW van complained.

...the slave cylinder, that is.

>My clutch pedal was going to the floor

They all do this..?

>Same reservoir

No worries mang, glad it's working. You aren't the first to have the same problem bleeding it.

Yeah dude. Youre the best. I didnt expect /o to be 10x more helpful than bmw forums