The Pub

I came home after a drive in my R5turbo, finding that I could not get the car out of 1st gear, a problem that occurs when the slave cylinder begins to bypass fluid, or the clutch hydraulic system needs bleeding.

Loathe to change the slave cylinder, which was recently done, along with the clutch master cylinder, I decided to bleed the clutch system.

Normally, this would require someone to pump the clutch pedal, and really difficult contortions under the car and in the engine compartment to reach the slave cylinder that is attached to the transmission.

Really, the only way to do this is to use the pressure bleeder, which will flush the brake system, and remove the offending bubble (hoping that I find one). The one I am using is by Morive Power (European type, which has a cap that fits the single and twin master cylinder reservoirs for most European cars, including all of the British stuff that I have owned (and still own). There are about a dozen different adapters, and adapter sets, that will work with the Motive Power, as well a most of the other hand pumped pressure brake bleeders.

I was going to do a full video of this (and I will in the near future when I bleed the Morgan's system prior to the new engine start), but the procedure for bleeding the clutch and brakes is universal (air bubbles don't care how you expel them, but your buddy might if he is stuck pumping the pedal for half an hour...).

So, here is how the Motive Power brake bleeder is used. Note that there are no connections other than the brake bleeeder reservoir cap, no compressor, no "hundreds of lbs of pressure", or other complexities.
Tools used were the 8mm wrench for the bleed screw, and the fluid collection bottle. No gloves were necessary and not a drop of fluid was spilled.
Yes, a bubble was found, so maybe I do't have to install another brake slave cylinder. As you can see, it is a bit hard to get to...

I hope that the images are in the right order.

Here we go...

The first image shows the removal of the reservoir cap. This is important only because it was incorrectly noted that it was difficult to connect the pressure bleeder. In this system both the brakes and clutch share a master cylinder. The reservoir is slightly overfilled, which means that we don't have to worry about the fluid level when bleeding the clutch system. In this instance, I am only interested in bleeding the last foot of the clutch line and slave cylinder. Only a few CCs of fluid.



The second image shows the bleeder cap connected to the master cylinder reservoir. It screws on just as the original master cylinder cap does and seals tightly.

The third image shows the brake bleeder pressure, indicating just over 10 psi. This is not at all a stress for any components, and is just enough to push out the fluid and the air bubbles without pumping. The bleeder is really a pretty large reservoir that can both pressurize the brake system for bleeding (it will hold pressure to do the whole car. No need to continuously pump), and supply fresh fluid to the master cylinder so that you don't have to worry about too much bleeding of fluid.

The 4th image shows the slave cylinder with a wrench on the bleed screw, and the tubing connected to the collection bottle. All that is necessary to bleed the system is to crack the screw and watch the fluid and air flow. If flushing the brake system, you would see the color change as the fresh, clean fluid replaces the old fluid.
Twist the screw closed, and the bleeding is done. I got a little air, which, when the slave cylinder is heated, can cause the loss of hydraulic pressure, allowing the clutch to drag. This should fix the problem... and if not, well... I have another new slave cylinder.

Total time: 15 minutes, including finding the tool, answering the phone and taking the pictures. Actual time attaching the bleeder, collection bottle and twisting the screw, less than 7 minutes.

A system like this really makes it easy to flush a brake system, or bleed one. It is single handed, and all that has to be done is to crack the brake screw and let the fluid and air flow out.
No pumping (you will find a hard pedal when you are finished). No problems if you forgot to bench bleed the new master cylinder. It does that job on the car.
The system cost about $60, maybe less. All of the hand pumped of this type are around the same price. Amazon has all of them.
There are also more complex compressor powered units, or dealer/manufacturer types for hundreds of dollars, but this does the job, even on my Mercedes with the dreaded SBC brake by wire system and ABS. which requires 2 bar of replenishment pressure to bleed the brakes with the SBC pump system.

Some tools are not worth the price, but this one is. If your Morgan has not had a new master cylinder in decades, or you are doing a clutch or brake flush, this will save you hours of work, and perhaps a marriage or friendship. Brake bleeding becomes an easy job, done single handed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-10-03 04:04 PM by SJM1.