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Changed my slave cylinder on the 3.6 XJS last weekend and there was fluid under the dust cap so it had been leaking and hopefully the cause of my clutch drag (see earlier post). However, I couldn't bleed the new cylinder. No amount of pumping of the pedal seemed to get any significant fluid out of the bleed nipple on the slave cylinder even though I could hear gurgling inside it. Also the fluid level in the reservoir did not go down.
I've successfully bled systems on several other cars but are there any tricks to bleeding the clutch on an XJS? I've seen You Tube videos on reverse bleeding (mainly old BMWs) where you pump fluid into the slave nipple using an old fashioned engineer's oil can and length of tubing and drive the air out up through the system to the reservoir. The idea being air naturally wants to rise and it is easier than trying to force it down through the system. Anyone tried this?
You might want to try a reverse bleed. Air travels up, so the pumping and bleeding situation trying get all that air to go almost straight down is a challenge.
Take some kind of an old school oil pump can (new!) fill it with brake fluid. Use a clear some kinda hose, put the wrench on the nipple and the hose over it. Turkey baster,,, suck out fluid in the reservoir to make room for new fluid. Loosen nipple and start pumping fluid in, tighten leaving things in olace for now, alternating peddle up peddle down and push all the air up the line as opposed to down...?
My2cents
Last edited by JayJagJay; Jun 12, 2019 at 07:22 AM.
I found that 'standard' method works: put rubber hose from nipple into a jar and do 2-3 pumps at a time and add brake fluid. You can add fluid into jar yourself or just wait until there is some from pumping. The important point is to have end of the hose in the fluid so that it sucks a little bit back up when you release pedal.
Last edited by NJ2003XJ8; Jun 12, 2019 at 01:25 PM.
I found that 'standard' method works: put rubber hose from nipple into a jar and do 2-3 pumps at a time and add brake fluid. You can add fluid into jar yourself or just wait until there is some from pumping. The important point is to have end of the hose in the fluid so that it sucks a little bit back up when you release pedal.
Many thanks NJ. I must admit my old bit of hose was so used to being wrapped in a coil that it wasn't below fluid level in the jar. Maybe I'll try getting some new hose and priming it with fluid first and keeping below fluid level in jar.
Thanks OJ. Presumably this means leaving nipple open and just letting gravity drain the fluid through over time?
Did wonder about this but ran out of time last weekend and spent so long cramped under the car in a tight space that I seem to have damaged my shoulder - is that love or what!? So will need to leave for a week before I have another go.
Bleeding the clutch
