REQUEST: DIY Clutch Fluid bleed/swap/replacement.

spearfish25

It's pretty simple. The one caveat is DO NOT pump the clutch pedal rapidly. You'll airlock the pump.

1) Jack up the front left side of the car. Follow safe jacking/car work practices.
2) Slide underneath and look at the transmission bell housing. You'll see a hard line come out of it and a little nipple covered with a rubber cap. That's the bleed screw for your clutch.
3) Have someone slowly depress and release the clutch pedal 2-3 times. SLOWLY is the key, with about 2-3 seconds for each complete down/up stroke. On the third downstroke, have them hold it down and call out "DOWN".
4) You (now under the car with an 8mm (if I recall) wrench on the bleed screw call out "OPEN" and gently open the bleed screw and let some fluid out. ONLY KEEP IT OPEN FOR 1-2 SECONDS, then close it again. Call out "CLOSED".
5) Your helper then releases the clutch pedal from the floor and manually lifts it back to the up position. They should then slowly pump the clutch down and up repeatedly with 2-3 second complete strokes until the pressure again builds and the clutch rises from the floor on its own. You're now ready for another bleed cycle (repeat steps 3-5).

You must keep an eye on the clutch fluid reservoir (the small one by the brake fluid reservoir) and top it up occasionally. I usually do about 3 bleeds and then give it a check/top it up. It doesn't take more than about 4-5 cycles to completely flush the system. If you pump the clutch pedal rapidly, you'll froth the fluid and airlock the system. It's painful to fix at that point (need a power bleeder).

Hope that helps.

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2013 Cadillac V-Wagon, RIP Z