tips for replacing both clutch hydraulic cylinders

[Beirut944]

I've taken so much good advice from many of you that i wanted to feed back something into the system.

I recently had to replace both master and slave cylinders on my clutch. Here are a few tips from an amateur mechanic who has no special tools and could not find a one man bleeding kit in Lebanon.

Myth 1
You don't need a one man bleeding kit to bleed the system. You can hook up a small oil can (which pumps) and open the bleed nipple on the slave cyclinder down below and pump through until you see in your transparent tubes clear brake fluid with no bubbles. Of course the transparent tube has to be long so it can sit in a jam jar by your feet, but it's a one man bleeding system which works well. I found if you dont open the bleed nipple to much, you can quickly get under the car and close it without any air getting back in during the few moments when you stop pumping.

Tip 1
Contrary to so many posts i read, you do NOT have to remove the clutch lever rod from inside the footwell before removing the master cylinder. It's a very difficult job and it's so hard to force your head into the cavity. When you take off the master cylinder you can see easily that it will go back on and line itself up with the lever.
Can't think for the life of me why so many people say you have to remove it.

Tip 2
I found it really easy to not line up the rod coming out of slave cylinder and the point where it needs to sit on the clutch flywheel. Really worth taking your time and getting it right as you lose hours and hours trying to bleed and thinking you have a hydraulic problem.

Tip 3
You can replace the seals easily yourself in both cylinders saving $$$. Many people just replace the cylinders but this is really burning money in my view.

Hope that helps others who are contemplating the job.

MJ in Beirut

[Bukowski]

I like unsolicited tips.

I'd have to correct you - or at least direct attention to the Porsche shop manual - on the topic of rebuilding. Not all model years' cylinders are rebuild able.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by Bukowski

I like unsolicited tips.

I'd have to correct you - or at least direct attention to the Porsche shop manual - on the topic of rebuilding. Not all model years' cylinders are rebuild able.

That and since they are only $65 and $72 NEW,
They aren't that expensive, verse the tire to replace is the rebuild fails.

[dgcantrell]

They are all rebuildable. Getting a rebuild kit for them is the issue. Hydraulic clutch and master cylinders are the simplest of just any hydraulic devices. I've kept my old master and slave cylinders on my car and will rebuild them if I come across a rebuild kit for them. Haven't really been looking though.

I've had good success in rebuilding other though. I have several small brake cylinder hones that can really clean up a bore. The rebuilds I've done have lasted just as long as any of the others. The critical thing is to get all of the trash out of the lines before putting new fluid in them. Being that there isn't a lot of fluid in those systems, trash and contaminates will travel back and forth quite a ways during operation.

[Bukowski]

Originally Posted by dgcantrell

They are all rebuildable.

Well I was hoping this would come up ... note I said "at least"....

The Porsche SM covers certain brands of cylinder. HOWEVER, the cylinders you get NOW are not necessarily what Porsche was talking about THEN, right? So then it is at least conceivable that ANY cylinder is rebuildable - after the publication date, the SM can't say.

.., this should be an aid when shopping for a cylinder. If it's rebuilt, then that tells you something.

[Beirut944]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

That and since they are only $65 and $72 NEW,
They aren't that expensive, verse the tire to replace is the rebuild fails.

Sure, in the West this is a good argument. But in poor countries you have to factor in two points to mull over. One, parts are generally three times more expensive here ( i just got a quote for a tie rod today from Porsche in lebanon for 300 bucks !). And secondly, the repair parts are always more easily available in poor countries as that's what most people want to do.

If i had been wiser and taken more time to aligne the rod on the slave cylinder, the entire job would have taken around 5 - 6 hours i think. But i take your point.

My tips posting was more for people living in poor countries where shade tree mechanics are the only real option.

MJ

[Beirut944]

Originally Posted by dgcantrell

They are all rebuildable. Getting a rebuild kit for them is the issue. Hydraulic clutch and master cylinders are the simplest of just any hydraulic devices. I've kept my old master and slave cylinders on my car and will rebuild them if I come across a rebuild kit for them. Haven't really been looking though.

I've had good success in rebuilding other though. I have several small brake cylinder hones that can really clean up a bore. The rebuilds I've done have lasted just as long as any of the others. The critical thing is to get all of the trash out of the lines before putting new fluid in them. Being that there isn't a lot of fluid in those systems, trash and contaminates will travel back and forth quite a ways during operation.

very good advice. I'm sure the seals can be found in the EU and US though. I know they are Porsche parts as i was in the process of ordering them from Porsche itself. It's just a question of digging about. Not sure about the 'kits' as such. Would the kit in clude a new piston?

[dgcantrell]

Probably not. Some kits do and some don't though. Given that most of the time that these things fail, it's a rubber seal instead of the hard metal parts. Most, if not all, of the rebuild kits for brake and clutch cylinders I've ever gotten have been nothing but replacement rubber parts and springs.

[CatsEyes]

Hey Beirut944,

These are great tips for anyone keeping their old 944 on the road in any 'poor' country.

Which I suspect in this context means any country outside the US of A...

Thank you for them.