[TR] clutch bleeding followup

[Dave1massey at cs.com]

In a message dated 3/11/2012 11:38:31 AM Central Daylight Time, 
davewillner at pa.net writes: 
> I've posted this in past, apologies for bombing the list again. I can't 
> for
> the life me get the air (lots of air) out of my new clutch master and 
> slave,
> along with a new pipe and hose. I tried the conventional way (wife) a 
> bunch of
> times, speed bleeder, stick on pedal, slow trickle, etc. nothing is 
> working
> and I'm wondering if one of the new aftermarket cylinders is bad. There 
> are no
> leaks and the canister remains full of silicone fluid...I'm wondering if
> anyone has had any issues with these"authentic reproductions" as they're
> called, made by Gold Classic I think, with seals or air leaks or just 
> general
> failure?
> 

One common misstep is connecting the hose to the upper port on the slave 
cylinder and the bleeder to the bottom port.  This will make it impossible to 
expel the bubble of air above the bleeder.  Some have gone to the extent of 
dismounting the slave cylinder and holding it vertical with the bleeder port 
at the highest point.  This seems a bit extreme as I have had good luck 
with the cylinder mounted with the bleeder above the hose connection.

Another possibility is that there is a fault in the master cylinder.  There 
is a small seal that closes off the port from the reservoir to the master 
cylinder.  There is a mechanism that pulls this seal off of the port when the 
pedal is released.  If the mechanism becomes disengaged the port will 
remain sealed and it will not take up fluid when the pedal is released.  But if 
that was the case your wouldn't get the "trickle" you mentioned.  (Never 
heard of that technique before, how does that work?)

Dave