So I have been trying to bleed it all day long...... he clutch does engage, but it isn't right yet... still way too soft in my opinion, also, I don't know if maybe it just is soft? or what? but I am afraid it will cause damage if I drive it around?

 

Describe your bleeding procedure. It should not take long at all.

You mean disengage, I presume. start the car on level ground, press the clutch pedal, and leave it to the floor, if it goes into gear easily, and the car doesn't jerk, you should be good to go...but if you still see air in the system, keep bleeding, cause the slightest bit of drag can damage the clutch and and flywheel, not to mention your synchros.

 

press the clutch down to floor, open the bleed nipple and let the fluid out. Tighten the bleed nipple up, then release the clutch pedal.

 

ok, so....... I think I might have gotten it sorted out... what I ended up having to do was add teflon tape to the threads of the bleeder..... then used a vacuum pump to 20"

seems to have worked, but I have an appt at a local car place to bleed it, and adjust the pedal on Friday, they said it should take half an hour, and be $52 -- while I think I have it right, the $52 is worth it for me to have a mechanic look at it, and do it....

so went through all the gears while driving around.... each gear feels crisp, but that could jsut be that it needs to be broken in... new syncros and clutch, now have 3 road miles on them, 1 air jackstand mile in the garage also

 

I feel like when I replaced the clutch in my 2003 ES, it felt softer as well for some reason now that i'm thinking about it...maybe not softer, but less "gritty" I suppose..

 

found out why it wouldn't bleed...... my slave blew up.... had a huge puddle on the ground under the bellhousing

also found a gear oil leak, it is leaking from that round seal that covers the snap ring that drops the shaft......

and since the tranny is now on the ground...... I had to drain it.... fluid looked clear while draining, but in the pan, is a dark grey color, and has gold glitter in it......

at least the clutch disk is ok....

I found out that I can drop my trans by myself without air tools in about 3 hours.... and I just bench pressed it out, lol

FML.......


I think I figured out how to use my vacuum bleeder correctly though, so when I do the next one.......

 

here is the part where it is leaking gear oil from, also here is the pic of my gear oil with my hand in it for a color comparison, it is gray, with gold glitter in it -- but it only has 3 miles on it, is that normal?

 

so I got an email back from the wrecker that subcontracts out their rebuilds.... he said he will be sending me a new plug for it, and the reason my oil is grey is that the assembly lube the builder uses is gray, and the gold glitter is just the synchros breaking in

 

that access hole for the snap ring looks like it got hacked a bit on the edges, that's why you're supposed to drive something through the middle to remove it...

I'm shocked that a brand new slave cylinder would fail on a stock clutch so soon.

 

I don't know what is up with the slave. it is possible I messed it up and blew it out while trying to bleed it?

for the fluid, should I reuse it? on another forum, someone said jsut to strain it, and reuse it... maybe a funnel and coffee filter?

and as for that plug, it doesn't look like the edge is messed up, but I will look at it more, there is rtv around the plug, so maybe that is what looks messed up on it

 

As long as you didn't pump the pedal, but even if you did, I think it's unlikely that it would blow its seal. Sounds like a defective part to me, if it was brand new. I would be after a free replacement. Not to mention you have to drop the tranny again to get at it.

I would personally be a little concerned if redline came out looking like that after only 3 miles. It might be the picture, but it looks pretty dark. Does the transmission whine at all? If you want to strain it and run it again, I would give it a hundred mile or so and check it again. I think you would need a very fine screen to strain it, I don't think a coffee filter would pass that volume of gear oil in a reasonable amount of time. Probably something like those fine screens used for tea and coffee would work better.

That case plug seals the same way a crankshaft or axle seal does, it should not require any RTV at all, that would leave me to believe it is damaged, but the rebuilder may have just done that to be on the safe side, or something. Either way it should not leak ever, so they either ****ed up the cap installing it, or the "port" is damaged, and that's why they RTV'd it.

 

Here is what I wrote to them:

I got the tranny into my Lancer and have found that it is leaking gear oil out of it. From what I can tell, it is leaking from cap on the side of the transmission. If I can find the part, I am confident enough in just replacing it myself, but I don't want to possibly void my warranty. I also noticed that the fluid I drained out of it is dark gray, with gold glitter. Is dark grey normal for only having 3 miles on it? The tranny is currently out right now, because I had a defective clutch slave cylinder.

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Here is their response:

hmmm. the builder uses assembly lube when he puts them together and its graphite gray color. this mixes with the oil and discolors it.
the plug , I can either send you a new one (take a couple days to get) or since the area isn't pressurized you can clean it off w some brake cleaner and squeeze some silicone gray or black sealer around where the seal meets the case (around the outside of the plug) and it should take care of it.
let me know.
thanks!

 

as for the slave, I have sent a message to the seller on eBay, but haven't heard anything back yet.....

here is what I sent:

I recently installed my clutch kit. When I went to bleed the slave cylinder, it wouldn't build pressure. I found that the slave was possibly defective and it had actually just leaked all over the inside of my bellhousing and left a sizeable puddle in my driveway. The slave did not damage the clutch disk, luckily.

 

is there a pre-bleed I should do on the slave? Like how you would bench bleed a master?

 

got my timing belt