(G) stilo clutch problem

Hi everyone, I cannot change gear on my Stilo, as the clutch does not seem to disengauge properly, I have tried to bleed the clutch, followin advice on the forum, but what looks like a bleed nipple is a solid fittng and the only way I can get fluid out of it is by relesing the hydraulic pipe which then allows fluid of of the nipple but I cannot be sure if all the air is out. Does anyone know how the bleed the clutch?

you cant bleed it by removing the hose, that will make it worse. you loosen the bleed nipple, stick a bleed kit on, and then pump the clutch while making sure the brake fluid doesnt drop below min. trust me there is a bleed nipple you can loosen.

how to bleed a stilo clutch in the guides section we dont do it that way ..

http://www.fiatforum.com/stilo-guide...-cylinder.html

that is by far the stupidest bleeding method i've ever seen. personally i doubt that guide is correct, it may work to get a bubble out the supply line, but it cant be the correct method. gravity cant bleed trapped air out of the cylinder, air travels up so it would only bleed the fluid out not the air!!

I have removed the slave cylinder and attempted to remove the bleed nipple but it does not move, there is no threads at the base of the nipple and no way of turning it, it is totally round, is there a bleed nipple some where else?

apparently not. the way it works is that when you pull the hose off a tiny bit it allows fluid to pass through the bleed nipple. i can only assume they use voodoo magic to make it work.

pmsl


First of all, as jug says, that is one stuipd method of bleeding, i used to be a brake specialist and i know PLENTY about bleeding and gravity alone could never work or there would just be one way valves at the top of every fluid based system. That method couldnt do much apart from make things worse or remove the smallest bubbles that you wouldnt have noticed anyway!

My recommendation is speak to your local dealer and get advice on your model.


lol, @ voodoo

the clutch and brakes use the same resivour (cant spell)

just bleed the lot from one off or all the brake calipers, that way you know you done the lot, then top up fresh, might as well drain it propperly, then if that doesnt work and its still the same, suspect slave cylinder dead, thrust bearing, or master cylinder

when my pedal went straight to the floor (low pressure) it was a crack in the master cyinder. had to pump the brake pedal to get pressure in the clutch, most annoying for the cars behind me seeing flashing brake lights every time i stopped. good work out though, got a strong right leg now

You don't need to add any more pressure than gravity when bleeding air from the clutch system on Stilo. By pushing on the clutch pedal you just ADD to gravity, nothing magical there. Self bleeding kits do exactly the same, just add to gravity and save you having to retop the fluid

The Stilo clutch system is 1ft long straight down so you don't need to add any pressure to it or you'll just end up the loads of fluid everywhere. Got a vertical tube full of fluid? Open the bottom and what happens? Fluid pours out. That's all you need for the 1.6 Stilo clutch system.

Different for bleeding a whole brake system as air gets trapped in pockets but for just bleeding the small amount of air trapped in the slave cylinder then just follow the guide.

Once only fluid coming out then there's no more air and you've bled the clutch

Is the slave cylinder working properly i.e. is the slave cylinder piston moving properly when the clutch is depressed?

I've had the same problems trying to bleed my JTD with the concentric slave cylinder inside the bell housing. The bleed nipple is moulded into a plastic pipe that passes through the bell housing and it cant be unscrewed. eLearn instructions are to remove the circlip holding the hydraulic hose into the bell housing, pull the hose out by no more than 10mm and let gravity do the work. If I were to pump the pedal at this stage, the pipe would fly out and spray brake/clutch fluid everywhere.

I suspect this is would be OK to bleed the clutch master cylinder and the pipes from resevoir to master cylinder and master cylinder to bell housing, but I can't see how it would bleed the slave cylinder and the pipe from it to the bell housing.

Unless Fiat have fitted an 'anti-gravity generator' inside the bell housing, I'd go along with Voodoo magic as jug says.

Dave.

Thats wot i thought? And exactly how my fiat garage did mine when i had trapped air, and coz they let me watch they told about the clutch fluid and brake fluid bein on the same system. Found out lots.

How is it only 1ft long? on a RHD car the fluid has to travel from the resevoir on the n/s of the car to the master cylinder on the o/s of the car then back and down to the slave cylinder on the n/s of the car. On mine there is also about another 4ft of pipe coiled into a spiral, presumably as a damper. Seems to me there's lots of places in the system where air pockets could remain.

Dave.

Remember the guide is for bleeding a 1.6 engine clutch system

It's around one foot from the top of the fluid in the master cylinder to the bleed point. Thats how pressure is created (head x density) and that's more than enough head of pressure to push the fluid through the very short system

It's a 2 minute job if you don't mess with things you don't need

Yeah... I see what you mean now Decks. The overall fall is only about 1ft.

If this fall was a vertical tube and you opened it at the bottom then fluid would pour out but it's not vertical and it's not very short.

On mine, it traverses from one side of the car and back again and around the spiral damper. There are several places where small pockets of air could accumulate and would not percolate out without being forced. Overall I think there's about 12ft of pipe, (longer than some brake caliper pipe runs) and I suspect it's similar on the 1.6 to my JTD. (the bleeding instructions are similar).

I think my problem is similar to the OPs but I have trouble engaging gear when stationary. I have to really push the clutch pedal into the carpet for it to engage. Probably bled about half a litre of fluid through it now by gravity but still the same. I've just bought the plastic parts that attach the master cylinder push rod to the pedal and I'm going to try to make something to extend the push rod. I feel it only needs a very small amount of extra travel for it to engage properly.

Dave.

I think you'll find extending the push rod won't do anything if you think about it. The slave cylinder has a certain amount of "throw" or movement and you can't extend it. It will just push back the slave cylinder piston further and you're back to square one

Easy ones first
1 Make sure the clutch pedal is actually getting fully up. Mine wasn't and each time you use it the bite point goes lower and lower until it becomes difficult to engage gears and reverse gear crunches. It needs to get fully up before it gets a full charge of fluid and you then get a full stroke from the master cylinder.

The over foot panel got in the way on mine and restricted the clutch pedal movement so i took it off and threw it away

See where it's rubbing here? That caused me a lot of grief in the early days


2 Make sure your carpet isn't preventing the pedal getting fully down

Stilo clutches are wildly different between engines. Some diesels have an external slave cylinder and some are internal. So with an external slave it's easier to see and measure the movement but that's not possible with an internal slave or operating cylinder i think they call it