Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Where is the clutch bleed nipple on a 4/4 Zetec ??

I'm trying to find the bleed nipple to change the clutch fluid on my year 2000 4/4 with a silver top Zetec 1800 engine. Any ideas where I might find this elusive clutch bleed screw please?

If the gearbox has an integral slave cylinder, the bleeder will be on the gearbox casing.
This is where it sits on my Roadster:

If your gearbox is the same as my Duratec 4/4 you will find the bleed screw just beyond the braided hose at the top front of the bell housing. The bleed screw is an 8mm spanner size. Hope this helps

Slightly at a tangent, all three of the Roadsters I have owned have demonstrated a continuing deterioration the the quality of the gear change as the miles increased to the point at which it became truck-like.
Bleeding the clutch has improved things considerably but there is no evident loss of clutch fluid in the master cylinder and no apparent leaks. I can only assume that the initial bleeding was perfunctory.
Don.

As I stated elsewhere on the other thread. I too am trying to find the nipple!

But I searched on the "interweb" for Ford Transit clutch bleed (as that is what we have!) and the following seems to suggest there is none but the technique is as follows.

" You may have the early type cylinder which has a bleed outlet but not a nipple you can turn. If this is the case bleeding is quite easy but slightly different. Make sure the resevoir is kept topped right up during bleeding. Disconnect the feed pipe and let the fluid run through. (keeping that resevoir topped up) Then push the pipe half into the slave. Let the fluid run through the bleed pipe. Push the pipe fully home. Pump the pedal. If pressure is not complete repeat whole process. THIS ONLY APPLIES TO THE EARLY TYPE CYLINDER WITH FIXED BLEED PIPE>"

Could this be the answer?

Also another on Wiki Answers

Good find Keith.

Many thanks everybody. I can see the pipe going from the master cylinder into the bellhousing, but can't see the slave cylinder or how to access it. Any further ideas please ...?

I agree the next challenge....

Looking at the photo (sorry to duplicate the post but it makes it easier to refer to..), I assume that the pipe running vertically and then dipping down to the right hand corner is going to the clutch pedal cylinder and the two pipes running from below the bleed nipple/bracket are continuing/returning to/from the slave cylinder and therefore you have a complete circuit terminating with the 'nipple'. Therefore easy to bleed.

The issue is that the Zetec set up has a single pipe from the pedal cylinder through a mount on the bell housing and then into the bell housing (never to be seen again!)

I tried to get photos but it is in a very difficult position.

More clues...

It seems that the Ford Focus uses a gearbox (MTX75) that appears to have the slave cylinder integral to the Bell Housing (combined with thrust bearing), neat if you can get to it!



I would imagine this is similar to the set up we have. The problem will be getting to the bleed pipe and release the nut with tube attached!

Reading elsewhere it appears that another way of bleeding is to 'reverse bleed', Ford have a special tool but an alternative is to use a 'Pump Oil Can' and fill with brake fluid. Place a pipe on the nozzle connect to the nipple, release the nipple and slowly pump in fluid to fill up (a previously half emptied) reservoir and pump out air. This is interesting but will not allow you to flush out all the fluid to replace it as you are supposed to do every 2 years.

So a solution has to be found to getting a bleed tube on to the elusive nipple and then slacken the flipping thing!