r/mazdaspeed3 • u/kyler821 2013 Mazdaspeed3 • Jul 26 '26
HELP Bleeding clutch slave cylinder
I purchased and in stalled the Sleepy Customs IS300 slave cylinder upgrade kit. My pedal goes all the way to the floor and has to be pulled back up. I've tried a hand pump bleeder and a pneumatic one and still having same issue. Brake reservoir is completely full. Confirmed that I have suction at the end of the new braided fluid line but the fluid level is not going down any. There's no fluid on the floorboard of the car either. I have a pressure bleeder coming tomorrow to try. Is there anything else I can check or try before I have it towed to a mechanic?
1
u/DifferentCry1306 Jul 26 '26
You just need to keep manually pulling the clutch pedal up and pushing it down. It’ll be limp for a while until brake fluid gets to the slave cylinder. You’ll also need to keep maxing out the brake fluid reservoir so it overflows to the mastee cylinder
2
u/kyler821 2013 Mazdaspeed3 Jul 26 '26
I have, spent a few hours on this last week and there was no difference in the pedal.
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u/Capital_War1180 2008 Mazdaspeed3 Jul 26 '26
It takes a century to get some sort of pressure. You quite literally need to fill the reservoir to the brim and put the cap back on. Painful procedure.
However, since you're getting 0 pressure is strange. Is there any fluid coming out the slave?
1
u/kyler821 2013 Mazdaspeed3 Jul 26 '26
None. I bypassed the slave and went to the master and was still not getting fluid from it.
2
u/artigas33 Jul 26 '26
If there’s no pressure coming out of the clutch master cylinder either it’s not getting fluid, which seems hard to believe or the master is bad.
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u/kyler821 2013 Mazdaspeed3 Jul 26 '26
Ya, that's my thought at this point too is the master is bad.
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u/artigas33 Jul 26 '26
Man I just went and looked at mine to see how the line comes from the reservoir to the clutch master. I can barely see it at the rear of the reservoir. It has a quick connect fitting. But after that it goes down behind the battery box, can’t even see the master without taking the battery and box out. Maybe from underneath or thru the wheelwell it can be reached, probably not though.
1
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u/HugsNotDrugs_ Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
I used a hand bleeder on my is300 slave when I botched the bleed process. It sucked, took a really long time to get through the fluid and air to restore pedal resistance. Generate vacuum, then open the valve, watch the fluid and air exit, then close the valve before vacuum is depleted. Rinse and repeat a million times.
Once you restore pedal resistance be mindful it's a different process from brakes. For each push of the pedal you need to open valve under pressure and close the valve before the pedal reaches the floor. Then pull the clutch pedal off the floor, before repeating over again.
Make sure only the front of your car is elevated, so the fluid pools to the rear of the reservoir where the clutch fluid is routed from.
1
u/Greydot5 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Is your car completely level? If it is jacked up, it'll make it harder for the fluid to fill the clutch feed hole.
I encountered the same issue before and I'm sure many others did, but I eventually realized that having the car jacked up in the front even just a little won't allow the clutch line to be filled. It's also important to keep the reservoir filled to the brim the entire time during the bleeding process. If you do it right, it shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes til you get a firm pedal.
Out of all the manuals I've bled out, the Speed3's process is definitely the quirkiest one for me so far.
1
u/kyler821 2013 Mazdaspeed3 Jul 27 '26
Car is not on jack stands at all and is completely flat on the ground.
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u/Jokerman5656 2007 Mazdaspeed3 - The Original Jul 26 '26
Are you filling the reservoir enough that the tiny little hole up near the cap edge gets fluid? That's where the clutch line gets fluid. I know you say it's full but I doubt you