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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Clutch hydraulic woes

Wondered if any sages out there can help? Just changed a dodgy metal clutch pipe but found I can't bleed the air out of the system & get the clutch working again, yet all was fine beforehand. Thinking maybe the master cylinder seals were marginal I've now replaced these but still no fix. If the cylinder bore was damaged wouldn't the fluid just be leaking out somewhere? My Moss catalogue mentions pressure bleeding the system, I've never had to do this on any other car so is this likely to help? 1275 car with 'early' pattern master cylinder.

Thanks
mgpete

Push the slave cylinder piston all the way in and bleed as normal. Air can often only be expelled from the slave cylinder if the piston is pushed fully in and held there whilst bleeding the system
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

Ah been there a few times myself.

Yes pushing the slave cylinder all the way in is well worth doing. Also check the fork that is driven by the master cylinder (under the cover by the fuse box) isn't ovalised and also the pin that it drives hasn't got a worm flat on it. Wear on these two items has a big impact on lowering the biting point. Then once your all done with bleeding wedge the clutch pedal down to the floor with a piece of wood under the steering wheel and try and push slave cylinder in if you are able and leave it like that over night. This gives a chance for small airbubbles to rise to the high points in the system, when you remove the wood the following day many of them get sucked back up into the reservoir. This works a treat on the brake pedal too.
Ben Brown

Lots of previous posts on this. You might have to jack up the car, or remove the slave and angle it to get the air out. Definitely worth fitting a remote bleed (cue the SDGPM). Also, let it settle over night with the pedal wedged down. This seems to help for some reason but I still don't know why.
Ant Allen

Of course, there's always an Easy Bleeder.

I messed around for a whole weekend trying to bleed my clutch with little success.

Got an Easy Bleeder, bled the clutch, it took all of about 20 minutes total.

Kinda pricey, but I've since used it again on the clutch & the brakes, after a total rebuild of both.

Dave Rhine ('78 1500)

Try looking at this video from Moss - hope it helps! http://www.youtube.com/user/MossMotorsCom#p/u/52/uj1dMdYgRK4
It demonstrates what Bob is saying I think
Graham M V

Many thanks for all the helpful replies folks. I finally discovered the main problem - slave cyl bleed screw tapping blocked with 'gunge' as even my oil change suction pump failed to draw any fluid out! Blockage poked out, I clamped the slave cyl in as suggested & it bled fine. Guess the repair kit I fitted was a red herring but then I'd have been 10x as cross financially had I gone & spent out on a new master cylinder!
mgpete

Nice one Pete.
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

This thread was discussed between 11/03/2010 and 12/03/2010

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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