Trick for bleeding the hydraulic clutch, 2001 Honda Civic

You can mess with the clutch hydraulic system for days, here’s a trick for you that should help a lot!

[@nameismetatoo4591]

I had trouble with mine as well ('09 Fit). Two main things I learned. One, when you loosen the bleeder, loosen it enough for the slave cylinder to easily compress. It'll still have some resistance, but you'll find that cracking it only a little will make it very hard to compress and you won't make any progress. Two, after compressing the slave cylinder make sure you really tighten down the bleeder. It may feel tight and you won't see or hear any air getting in, but believe me I found out the hard way that air really likes to flow back in to these for some reason. Also don't pump the clutch with the bleeder open. For whatever reason when I did this, even when closing the bleeder before lifting the pedal, the pedal would go completely limp and I'd be back at square one. Do a bleed cycle, close the screw, then pump the clutch a few times to send air from the master to the slave cylinder. Also, it helps to connect a vinyl tube to the bleeder screw and run it to a bottle with brake fluid (basically a gravity bleed setup). That way if you accidentally allow some backflow into the bleeder it only draws in fluid. Also makes it easier to see how much air is still coming out.

[@SalvadorHernandez-to2gq]

Such poor engineering by Honda on these clutch Master cylinders and clutch slaves! Especially where they install the clutch master cylinder! 🤦

[@mikehoncho9792]

I’m currently having a whole problem with my hydraulic clutch system for my 2007 accord

[@VideosBanales]

Im still not getting pressure in clutch

[@nsemlak09]

This is huge. I’ve been fiddling with mine after my slave cylinder snapped on a drive recently. Came in clutch with this one, no pun intended.

[@bronniesboy]

Did you need to have clutch pedal down too, or no need?

[@lesliechung79]

Works!!! Take your time after this the clutch master I guarentee you will have air in it. Use a clear tube & keep bleeding the clutch master & it’ll come back up after you bleed it. Have patience 😊

[@bronniesboy]

Did you need to have clutch pedal down too, or no need?

[@crownking5273]

What’s does it mean if it doesn’t draw fluid when you do this

[@MattPritchard]

@@crownking5273 probably air in the line, make certain to keep the master cylinder reservoir full.

[@carolinedaglish6037]

The best way is to reverse bleed it, fill a large syringe with brake fluid, attached to a clear tube, attach tube to bleed nipple on the slave cylinder and crack it open pump fluid upwards into the reservoir from the slave cylinder it takes about 10 minutes and all the air is pushed out the system. Job done.

[@rm4213]

Yes I was thinking the same thing I'm going to try this next because everything else has failed for me

[@carolinedaglish6037]

@@rm4213 make sure you have pumped all the air out of the pipe from the syringe before you connect it to the slave cylinder bleed nipple, otherwise you will be putting more air in to the system.

[@jessefuller8043]

I spent three well two stressful days trying to bleed my clutch on my 01 civic and I tried every way I saw I thought I was gonna need a vaccum pump but this way did it!! Thanks for your video it helped!!

[@nameismetatoo4591]

Vacuum pump only got me so far (had to buy one after a failed bleed left my clutch pedal only somewhat functional-got stuck in a parking lot the next day with no clutch and thankfully happened to be in a strip mall with an auto parts store). I got it working enough to be drivable, but the clutch pedal wouldn't fully disengage the friction disk and I had to rev-match in order to shift.

[@bronniesboy]

Did you need to have clutch pedal down too, or no need?

[@GoGators198]

Outstanding explanation. Very helpful. At the last part of your video it seems like the slave is angled so that the bleeder is the highest part. Do you think that helps avoid having air get trapped anywhere?

[@Fa5_4_lyfe]

Was a pain to bolt up huh

[@averyhuelsbeck3116]

Wow watching that master cylinder placement has me glad for my 94 Integra. Cool trick for working alone, thanks for sharing

[@jrkalaw4704]

Thanks on your video sir it really help my friend problem on his clutch bleeding process..

[@kitvexed8229]

DEFINITELY HELPED ME. THANK YOU !!

[@bronniesboy]

Did you need to have clutch pedal down too, or no need?

[@RonaldPescuela]

I tried it today it’s so helpful..before it took me a couple of hours until i watched this video..thanks to this video

[@nen.user.3764]

Hey thanks man . Just went straight to it love it. These Hondas man . Gotta love it

[@bronniesboy]

Did you need to have clutch pedal down too, or no need?

[@nen.user.3764]

@@bronniesboyno , I just watched the video cause it interested me I’m a mobile technician though.

[@bronniesboy]

@@nen.user.3764 did mine at boy I wouldn't do it any other way now

[@Person-jy4sc]

You rock brother

[@Grumpyoldman037]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! My Honda has had multiple master and slave cylinders installed both by me and by several garages. No one has been able to properly bleed the brakes. Now I know how to do it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[@bronniesboy]

Did you need to have clutch pedal down too, it no need?

[@JuanMartinez-ek7cy]

What syntoms does the clutch has to have to do this? I have had some trouble with my hondas clutch because the pedal goes all the way down , Can this method help me in some way?

[@MattPritchard]

Typically happens when you replace your slave cylinder. If your clutch goes to the floor, check for fluid in the reservoir at the master cylinder, if it’s low, fill it up then look for a fluid leak around the slave cylinder or on the rod that attaches to your clutch pedal.

[@gevinhu]

how did you get the master cylinder out? a 12 mm wrench doesnt fit through that tirewell hole, I cant grab the nut on the hard line

[@MattPritchard]

I don’t remember, I think it was fine. Do you have fluid leaking at the pedal? Those master cylinders don’t go out very often.

[@martmont7872]

You can use a vacuum blender

[@ThorsDecree]

I spent 2 hours with a vacuum bleeder on mine and only got a little fluid. It's weird. The master and slave are both mechanically functioning, I can't find any leaks, pressing the clutch pedal forces air and fluid out of the slave, but the reservoir level doesn't go down or only occasionally dips by a barely noticeable amount when I tighten the bleeder and raise the pedal. I know the system holds pressure because my vacuum gage on the slave bleeder says so. But I can't get all the air out. I'm about to try using an oil syringe to force fluid through the slave and hopefully that can push any air up through the reservoir since I can't get it out of the slave. Been messing with it for a week now lol.

[@sponiebr]

DUUUDE... This is nothing short of BRILLIANT! YEAH... This is a HUGE help. Thank you sir! On another note you're right about the master clutch cylinder it is a COMPLETE PITA. It took me something like 3 hours to swap mine out (02 Civic LX). If I EVER have to change it out again I'm going to be cutting some wrench ports in that area. They won't help a lot but there are already 2 holes in that little metal cup that Honda made to be part of the frame. Perhaps elongating of the lower hole vertically and the upper hole horizontally would help a little. Anyway, very cool video dude!

[@joshg8666]

Same, took me like 2.5 hours on 03 EX

[@HockeyLAKings119]

Question for whoever can answer. Basically initial problem was clutch was all the way to the floor, and stayed compressed. So I changed the master, still nothing, changed the slave, and now im having a heck of a time bleeding it. I dod the steps as you did in the video. I open the bleeder screw (bs), compress pin, a little bit of fluod comes out, then whem its bottomed out, I close bs, But the pin stays compressed, doesnt go back up until I open the bs again, but when I do that, all of the liquid goes back in the slave that just came out. Can anyone shed some light here?

[@jessefuller8043]

Pull the thing out manually after closing the bleeder then crack bleeder and push it down and close it and pull it back out keep doing it that way till just fluid comes out

[@HockeyLAKings119]

@@jessefuller8043 oh, I figured it out, finally got it to bleed. But this was almost two months ago lol

[@douglastaylor158]

Did u have the cap on or off the reservoir while u did this ?

[@MattPritchard]

Off, but it doesn’t matter since it’s not an air tight cap.

[@bronniesboy]

​@@MattPritchardDid you need to have clutch pedal down too, or no need?

[@MattPritchard]

@@douglastaylor158 The cap being on or off doesn’t matter.

[@MattPritchard]

@@bronniesboy doesn’t matter

[@SalvadorHernandez-to2gq]

How does it draw from the reservoir if the reservoir fluid is going to the Master cylinder first? 🤷.... The master cylinder then pushes through the line and the line to the slave! So not sure what you're talking about?? 🤔

[@MattPritchard]

When you replace the slave cylinder, it’s full of air, so the master cylinder fails to push fluid to the slave. You have to get the air out for it to work.

[@studio20seven]

Why is that rod not compressing when i press the clutch? 🥴

[@MattPritchard]

Air in your line

[@studio20seven]

@@MattPritchard well how long should it take for me to get it to move? Ive spent hours doing this

[@MattPritchard]

You have to get the air out of the line, watch the video again

[@studio20seven]

@@MattPritchard I don’t think its sucking fluid from the reservoir. Could be faulty cylinder idk 🥴. Only air is being pushed out after a few tries, new slave and master

[@MattPritchard]

It’s a pain, that’s why I made the video, getting air out of the lines can be very frustrating. Disconnect the line at the slave cylinder and make sure your getting fluid there from the Master.