official_style

try this, it worked for me!
jack the driver side front of the car up, so the tire is at least 8" off the ground. get in the car and pump the clutch in and out, so that it takes about 5 sec per time. do this for 5 mins. gets ALL the air out of the clutch line. mine shifts much better now!

tech

I'm not trying to be a jerk so please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't see how if there is any air in the clutch line, it has anything to do with the way the tranny goes into gear?

How did you discover this? How long does it last for?

slowjoe24

I want to hear more!!

Cheese302

if there is air in the line, the throw out bearing may not be making a full swing. This is due to the air in the line compressing instead of the fluid being uniform and the system working hydraulically. (if that is a word), so if there is a decent amount of air in the line, the throw out bearing will not fully move there by not allowing the clutch to fully disengage. If the disc is loose but not fully disengaged, the shifter will still operate, and the car will start and stop, but you can get some notchiness and you could notice that the clutch grabs earlier in the pedal travel as well as some other things. But i would think the clutch would be pretty well blead from the factory.

ryan1112

Let me get this straight.
Jack up the car from front drivers side and immediately get in the car and just start pumping the clutch? How does that bleed air out?

Vermillion06

Yes, wouldn't you have to bleed the hydraulic clutch system the same way as the brakes (pump up, hold, open bleeder)?

Cheese302

that i do not know.

i was just adding to the argument that air in the line can cause junky shifting and a lousy pedal feel. But for bleeding i would only be able to say a normal bleeding cycle would be proper, or maybe a power bleedr. I have not seen the bleed line on the 05+, they may actually be able to b gravity bled.

Knight

yeah the only thing that he would be doing would be compressing the air in the clutch line... a true bleed would be opening the and closing the bleed on the slave cylinder like brakes are done.

tech

Interesting...thanks for the info.

06GT

I do not understand what jacking the car has to do with anything.

karman

I don't understand what improper hydraulic bleeding has to do with anything.

1200custom

I don't understand 5 mins of pumping the clutch. I am way to lazy for that.

official_style

i got this information from another forum. my pedal had a little bit of play at the top. i did this and it worked. here is the thread where i got it from. http://forums.stangnet.com/showthrea...t=bleed+clutch
if you dont want to try it or dont belive me, then dont, but i just saved myself a trip to the dealer. my clutch felt light for about the first couple inches of travel before i did this. now you can feel it engaging right at the top. i am not a tech so i do not know why this bleeds the clutch system, but it does. when it is jacked that way, it is obvious that it lets the air escape somewhere.

Cheese302

i apologize for sounding like i dont believe you. to be honest with my car (whenever it gets built) if i have the same roblem i'll try your idea first just because its easy. i dont see how it works from my own knowledge of the way hydraulic systems function. but hey... if it works: it works.

thank you for your information. i was just trying to explain what would be causing the mushy pedal to begin with.

ryan1112

I'll bet that jacking up the car sloshes the fluid to one side of the reservoir so when you pump the clutch it can force air out of the line and to the top of of the reservoir.

karman

When a master cylinder is dying, repeated pumping can firm it up a lot. Pumping the air bubbles does a similar thing.
Oddly enough, the proper bleeding proceedures are not to far off from this. The only difference is that a vacuum device is applied to the reservoir tube to force the air out.There is no lower bleed nut because the slave cylinder is inside the tranny.
I guess if you don't have a vacuum pump your left foot is the only hope for coming close to a proper bleed. Even after the vacuum, the manual has you pumping the pedal 10 to 12 times. Jacking up the car shouldn't help any though.

spoilerdelete

It sounds like a way to boost muscle strength in your left leg. Once you get your "clutching leg" all buffed up... clutching becomes much easier... Now if we can only find a good exersice to strengthen the right arm for shifting...

Cheese302

well many hydraulic clutches still haev beed screws. THe tub is usually just bent to follow the feed line into the bell housing and sits near the feed line on the outside.

That is why i figured there would be a bleeder, but since theree isnt. my mistake. i guess the pumping of the clutch is worth a shot

silverGTvert

I'm sorry but I had to point it out. Theres a joke in there that the mods might delete but you get the picture.

pebkac

I saw this back in June but have not had the time to try it until now. I did this tongiht and must agree it does make a diff. I jacked it up like it says and pushed the clutch for five min. Right about 4 minutes I started getting a squeek every time I pushed the clutch. It also seemed to get firmer when pushing. Could be that the leg got a little tired but I doubt it. I figured that it actually worked but didn't quit. Prior to this the pedal was spongy in the top 1-2 inches of travel. Now it feels firm top to bottom and all the way back.

What a diff this has made for my shifting and my passenger comfort. I always thought I just was a less than smooth clutch driver. At times it would feel like I just started driving a stick. It always seemed that the smoother I tried to be the more buck I would get. With that being said I am not talking about bucking like the very first time one tries driving a stick. The shifts are also much cleaner also. No more missing third I hope. I for one am not sceptical of this now.