Skip to main content

The clutch is bled, and so are the front brakes

In an effort to resolve the unusual and sudden  pedal malfunction mentioned in a previous post I set about bleeding the clutch hydraulics.

Firstly I ordered a Sealey bleed kit that uses a hand pressured pump & cylinder to force the old fluid out and the new in. It works really well!




I began by removing the clutch slave bleed nipple and low and behold no fluid flowed out - it seems as if the aperture is blocked somehow. After a bit of searching and question asking of Jon at JMG Garage, I removed the clutch flexi hose union and bled the master cylinder, then after reattaching the flexi and I bled the whole system by removing the lower hardline union at the slave.


Using a small pry bar inserted through the inspection hole in the bell housing I squeezed out all of the old filthy fluid from the inside the slave cylinder - and once nice clean dot 4 fluid was flowing freely, and some pedal depressing from my son, the clutch system was bled.

I can see that the release bearing is being moved now with the pedal action and the pedal also returns to it's normal position now too. So far so good - although pedal action seems lighter than I remember...

I then tackled bleeding the front brakes - which were refreshed with new seals after being powder coated. It was an easier job than I expected - made so no doubt by using my newly procured Sealey pressure bleeder.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Engine out the top - Easy Peasy

After reading numerous posts, the Porsche workshop manual and Clarks Garage step-by-step engine removal guide - I felt confident enough to tackle the job. But I wanted to remove the engine from the top.  As I discovered, it was pretty straight forward even for a novice! Result. I wanted to avoid removing the cross member and disturb the front suspension to do something I was convinced could be done easier from the top. Posts such as this one convinced me to give it a go at least. And I'm glad I did. In summary I was able to remove the engine from the top without needing to remove the bonnet/hood; torque tube; transaxle; bellhousing; clutch; clutch slave cylinder; cross member; front suspension; and radiator. Contrary to many so called internet experts opinions and many confusing threads this was painless and without dread. All that was necessary to remove was the starter; power steering pump and alternator (I figured to make the bottom of the engine narrower); intak

New Steering shaft bearing Nightmare removal

In my quest to tighten up the handling on the 944, I bought a new Needle Bearing from Porsche in an attempt to eliminate the fore-aft play in the steering at the top universal joint. The part number for the replacement is 477.419.059 and costs £88.86 posted from an OPC. Nothing like the effort required to actually remove the old one... I began the process by reading section 48 of Porsche Workshop manual. It appeared a simple enough process but two things bothered me: firstly, it required a chisel to remove a shear bolt (which in my limited experience never "shear"; and secondly a drill to remove two screws from the ignition lock. I was bothered because a quick look under the dashboard made it quite obvious that whoever had written the manual hadn't performed this task - well not without a dashboard in place that's for sure. I was bothered before I'd even started. Furthermore, the manual doesn't detail the replacement of this bearing at all - just the rem

Bellhousing & Clutch fork removal

Removing the bellhousing from the Porsche 944 engine is not as complicated as it may seem - such as in this situation with my replacement engine. When I removed the original engine I detached it from the bellhousing in the car and removed the clutch pressure plate bolts through the starter motor hole - see my other post for details . In this case I decided to remove the clutch fork pivot shaft bolt. Begin by removing the four 17mm bellhousing bolts - you'll find that the bellhousing doesn't detach completely from the engine. It'll feel like its hooking on something. That something is the clutch fork pivot shaft inside the bellhousing. The bellhousing will be loose enough to rotate - turn it 180 degrees and peek through the access port which is now on top - this is what you'll see: If the engine is still in car you'll be looking at this from underneath. The pivot shaft needs to be extracted from the clutch fork. It's held in place by a small bolt on the