New and need HELP PLEASE!!!!!! Ion clutch bleeding
Super Moderator
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,316
From: Slightly off center
Whatever you do, do NOT wreck that reservoir. Under enough pressure it will shatter and the last person we tried to help with ion clutch strangeness (Mandy) had the opposite issue and blew it out. They were way out of production then and that was 6 yrs ago
Thread Starter
|
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 7
From: CALIFORNIA
Speaking from personal (extremely frustrating) experience, bleeding the clutch on these is a PITA. I replaced the transmission in my 2004 Ion last April, and didn't get the car going properly until June. I installed a new clutch kit, including the clutch, pressure plate, and slave cylinder when I swapped out the transmission. And got a new line that runs from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder because I had to cut the old one off to get it out of the slave cylinder. They're not easy to find!
I tried every type of bleeding shown on YouTube, and in the manual. The vacuum system (applied at the brake/clutch reservoir) is the only one that eventually worked. Initially, I could not get a pedal at all. After literally dozens of vacuum, wait, pump the pedal cycles, I finally got a fairly firm pedal for two strokes, then it went to the floor again. I then noted fresh brake fluid dripping from the vent hole at the bottom of the bell housing. It turns out, the slave cylinder was defective. Internally, it was allowing air into the system because of a defective casting where an o-ring was supposed to seal it. I guess the o-ring did eventually get into the defective area and sealed it temporarily but then ruptured and let all the pressure out. (I determined this after removing and dismantling the slave cylinder.)
Obviously, I had to remove the transmission again, and replace the defective slave cylinder. The manufacturer stood behind their warranty and sent a new clutch kit at no cost. But even with experience, changing the transmission (with two people) is a four or five hour job. And bleeding the clutch system was still a tedious process, involving at least 15 or 20 vacuum, wait, pump cycles.
Hope you have better success than I did. I really enjoy my Ion now. It has a great little engine (doesn't burn any oil), gets over 40 mpg on trips, and has only 157k miles on it!
P.S. I don't think it's possible to install the clutch plate 'backwards'.
I tried every type of bleeding shown on YouTube, and in the manual. The vacuum system (applied at the brake/clutch reservoir) is the only one that eventually worked. Initially, I could not get a pedal at all. After literally dozens of vacuum, wait, pump the pedal cycles, I finally got a fairly firm pedal for two strokes, then it went to the floor again. I then noted fresh brake fluid dripping from the vent hole at the bottom of the bell housing. It turns out, the slave cylinder was defective. Internally, it was allowing air into the system because of a defective casting where an o-ring was supposed to seal it. I guess the o-ring did eventually get into the defective area and sealed it temporarily but then ruptured and let all the pressure out. (I determined this after removing and dismantling the slave cylinder.)
Obviously, I had to remove the transmission again, and replace the defective slave cylinder. The manufacturer stood behind their warranty and sent a new clutch kit at no cost. But even with experience, changing the transmission (with two people) is a four or five hour job. And bleeding the clutch system was still a tedious process, involving at least 15 or 20 vacuum, wait, pump cycles.
Hope you have better success than I did. I really enjoy my Ion now. It has a great little engine (doesn't burn any oil), gets over 40 mpg on trips, and has only 157k miles on it!
P.S. I don't think it's possible to install the clutch plate 'backwards'.
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 300
From: Newport News, VA
I'll attach a link where you will see at least a dozen GM dealers that carry this. The first two have prices less than half of the rest. I paid about $70, including shipping, but had to wait a couple of weeks. The part number is 12587539. You can also check on eBay, where there were a couple of listings last year, but I don't see any this morning.
Saturn Ion Clutch Line
Saturn Ion Clutch Line
Thread Starter
|
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 7
From: CALIFORNIA
Speaking from personal (extremely frustrating) experience, bleeding the clutch on these is a PITA. I replaced the transmission in my 2004 Ion last April, and didn't get the car going properly until June. I installed a new clutch kit, including the clutch, pressure plate, and slave cylinder when I swapped out the transmission. And got a new line that runs from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder because I had to cut the old one off to get it out of the slave cylinder. They're not easy to find!
I tried every type of bleeding shown on YouTube, and in the manual. The vacuum system (applied at the brake/clutch reservoir) is the only one that eventually worked. Initially, I could not get a pedal at all. After literally dozens of vacuum, wait, pump the pedal cycles, I finally got a fairly firm pedal for two strokes, then it went to the floor again. I then noted fresh brake fluid dripping from the vent hole at the bottom of the bell housing. It turns out, the slave cylinder was defective. Internally, it was allowing air into the system because of a defective casting where an o-ring was supposed to seal it. I guess the o-ring did eventually get into the defective area and sealed it temporarily but then ruptured and let all the pressure out. (I determined this after removing and dismantling the slave cylinder.)
Obviously, I had to remove the transmission again, and replace the defective slave cylinder. The manufacturer stood behind their warranty and sent a new clutch kit at no cost. But even with experience, changing the transmission (with two people) is a four or five hour job. And bleeding the clutch system was still a tedious process, involving at least 15 or 20 vacuum, wait, pump cycles.
Hope you have better success than I did. I really enjoy my Ion now. It has a great little engine (doesn't burn any oil), gets over 40 mpg on trips, and has only 157k miles on it!
P.S. I don't think it's possible to install the clutch plate 'backwards'.
I tried every type of bleeding shown on YouTube, and in the manual. The vacuum system (applied at the brake/clutch reservoir) is the only one that eventually worked. Initially, I could not get a pedal at all. After literally dozens of vacuum, wait, pump the pedal cycles, I finally got a fairly firm pedal for two strokes, then it went to the floor again. I then noted fresh brake fluid dripping from the vent hole at the bottom of the bell housing. It turns out, the slave cylinder was defective. Internally, it was allowing air into the system because of a defective casting where an o-ring was supposed to seal it. I guess the o-ring did eventually get into the defective area and sealed it temporarily but then ruptured and let all the pressure out. (I determined this after removing and dismantling the slave cylinder.)
Obviously, I had to remove the transmission again, and replace the defective slave cylinder. The manufacturer stood behind their warranty and sent a new clutch kit at no cost. But even with experience, changing the transmission (with two people) is a four or five hour job. And bleeding the clutch system was still a tedious process, involving at least 15 or 20 vacuum, wait, pump cycles.
Hope you have better success than I did. I really enjoy my Ion now. It has a great little engine (doesn't burn any oil), gets over 40 mpg on trips, and has only 157k miles on it!
P.S. I don't think it's possible to install the clutch plate 'backwards'.
Thread Starter
|
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 7
From: CALIFORNIA
I'll attach a link where you will see at least a dozen GM dealers that carry this. The first two have prices less than half of the rest. I paid about $70, including shipping, but had to wait a couple of weeks. The part number is 12587539. You can also check on eBay, where there were a couple of listings last year, but I don't see any this morning.
Saturn Ion Clutch Line
Saturn Ion Clutch Line
Thank you so much
Thread Starter
|
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 7
From: CALIFORNIA
I have and I also I'm getting ready to replace the clutch master cylinder. It sucks that I'm pouring all this money into it with the mileage that it has but here I am sitting with no vehicle which is even worse. LOL. It has 222,323 miles on it.