Clutch fluid is always dirty!

[bb_zetec]

After changing mine twice in the last 5000ks it too has helped clutch feel.

The slave is inside the bellhousing yeah? So to access it you need to drop tranny?

 

[Skylarking]

... I used a syringe and sucked the dirty fluid out of the reservoir and, wiped it out and underneath the cap with a clean cloth, refilled it with clean fluid and cycled the clutch thru a fair few times until the fluid was going dark again from the rest of the dirty fluid in the system and syringed it out refilled with clean fluid etc etc for a few times till it was all clean again and I actually did notice an improvement in the clutch

Brakes and clutches don’t cycle fluid (ABS internals excluded).... they just don’t work that way.

They work on the principle that the fluid is incompressible. Any force applied to the pedal by your foot is passed to the mater cylinder piston mechanically. The piston puts pressure on the fluid which can’t compress so the pressure is passed to the slave cylinder piston. The slave cylinder piston then pushes onto the clutch forks mechanically.... Any movement of fluid is just a back and forth that accommodates the piston movements within the master and slave cylinder bores.

The only thing that goes through the fluid is pressure and the fluid doesn’t really move, say for a back and forth column movement. The fluid effectively just sits in the pipework being put under pressure and getting hot and bothered if pipe work is too close to any heat source (exhaust pipes).

The only way to fully flush brake or clutch fluid is to open the slave cylinder nipple and either suck fluid out from the slave cylinder or blow fluid out via pressurising the master cylinder reservoi.

Flushing just the master cylinder reservoir will make things look clean but it can’t really do much fot the fluid in the lines or the slave cylinder

Don’t know, must be something odd with these commodores as I’ve never had brake fluid go dark in such a manner...

 

[vr304]

Brakes and clutches don’t cycle fluid (ABS internals excluded).... they just don’t work that way.

They work on the principle that the fluid is incompressible. Any force applied to the pedal by your foot is passed to the mater cylinder piston mechanically. The piston puts pressure on the fluid which can’t compress so the pressure is passed to the slave cylinder piston. The slave cylinder piston then pushes onto the clutch forks mechanically.... Any movement of fluid is just a back and forth that accommodates the piston movements within the master and slave cylinder bores.

The only thing that goes through the fluid is pressure and the fluid doesn’t really move, say for a back and forth column movement. The fluid effectively just sits in the pipework being put under pressure and getting hot and bothered if pipe work is too close to any heat source (exhaust pipes).

The only way to fully flush brake or clutch fluid is to open the slave cylinder nipple and either suck fluid out from the slave cylinder or blow fluid out via pressurising the master cylinder reservoi.

Flushing just the master cylinder reservoir will make things look clean but it can’t really do much fot the fluid in the lines or the slave cylinder

Don’t know, must be something odd with these commodores as I’ve never had brake fluid go dark in such a manner...

Yea I realise my method probably isn’t the greatest way of doing it but I don’t have the bleeder extension on my slave cylinder so bleeding it all thru properly would be a nightmare, it’s made an improvement to the clutch so I’m happy enough with it

 

[Dino76]

So this thread got me thinking about doing my clutch fluid since it had been 3-4 years, I didn’t do it the traditional way I used a syringe and sucked the dirty fluid out of the reservoir and, wiped it out and underneath the cap with a clean cloth, refilled it with clean fluid and cycled the clutch thru a fair few times until the fluid was going dark again from the rest of the dirty fluid in the system and syringed it out refilled with clean fluid etc etc for a few times till it was all clean again and I actually did notice an improvement in the clutch

After changing mine twice in the last 5000ks it too has helped clutch feel.

The slave is inside the bellhousing yeah? So to access it you need to drop tranny?

After changing mine twice in the last 5000ks it too has helped clutch feel.

The slave is inside the bellhousing yeah? So to access it you need to drop tranny?

 

[Dino76]

So if I had a bleeder kit and bleed the whole line and cylinder out properly then the fluid shouldn't get dirty so quick or is the gromet still going to contaminate the fluid really quick?

 

[Skylarking]

I suspect grotty brake fluid is the result of the rubber seals decaying but if so you'd think people would have mentioned that the clucth master cyclinder starts to leaking. So not sure why these commodores suffer grotty clutch fluid

As i said, i've never had such in any other manufacturers vehicle i've owned with a hydraulic clutch...

 

[glennho]

So this thread got me thinking about doing my clutch fluid since it had been 3-4 years, I didn’t do it the traditional way I used a syringe and sucked the dirty fluid out of the reservoir and, wiped it out and underneath the cap with a clean cloth, refilled it with clean fluid and cycled the clutch thru a fair few times until the fluid was going dark again from the rest of the dirty fluid in the system and syringed it out refilled with clean fluid etc etc for a few times till it was all clean again and I actually did notice an improvement in the clutch

Thats how i did mine the couple of times ive done it

 

[vc commodore]

I wouldn't complain to much having to bleed the clutch master cylinder....I have a car here that has the clutch master cylinder combined with the brake master cylinder....The fitting is just above the bottom level of the braking system, so if you loose clutch, you don't loose brakes...However if you loose brakes, you loose clutch....

Bleeding that up is a pain in the rectum....

 

[BlackVXGTS]

Brake lines are much longer than clutch lines so it might not work with brakes

My comment was meant to be facetious and a joke. Obviously you wouldn't try anything like that to avoid the proper bleeding process on anything as safety-related as your brakes. What I was trying to demonstrate is that shortcuts don't always work (or don't work completely), so you are better off doing it the proper way the first time. I remember when I had my VS Calais, and ran on many of the Murcott high performance days at Sandown raceway in Melbourne, the power steering fluid used to turn pitch black. Cleaning the reservoir and replacing the fluid, even multiple times, never seemed to work very effectively. Should have bled the whole system.

 

[Skylarking]

if you loose clutch, you don't loose brakes...However if you loose brakes, you loose clutch....

Sounds like a logical design... with no brakes you shouldn't drive so it then good that you can't change gears to get out of neutral