Hi Craig.
Been there done it with the Rover Clutch. I the Rover clutch are known to be barstewerds to bleed. Especially the 600 TI which I learned how to do it.
This is the way I did it.
Three people to start off with.
Top up reservoir fully. Check and top up during process when necessary.
Get assistant to sit in car.
Put clear plastic tube onto bleed nipple on slave cylinder and end into glass jar.
Open up bleed screw and ask assistant to depress clutch pedal fully ~ by hand is best at this stage ~ pedal may plop to floor quickly and stay there ~ that can be normal. Leave it there. Close bleed screw.
Ask assistant to raise clutch pedal fully and hold there.
Open slave bleed nipple.
Ask assistant to depress pedal fully and hold down.
Close bleed nipple.
Raise pedal and hold.
Open nipple.
Depress pedal.
Close nipple.
Repeat this process untill bubbleless fluid appears in tube/jar. May need to do this ten times ~ maybe less ~ depending how much air allowed into system when it ran dry.
Then open nipple one more time and push pedal to floor AND HOLD IT THERE!
Close nipple immediately with pedal still flat on floor.
Change of process now. Still under car, open slave cylinder bleed nipple and push in slave's push-rod as far as you can and hold it there. This will expell any air out of the SLAVE cylinder ~ lock nipple and relase push rod which should return in a second or so. You can push the push rod into the slave by hand easily with the nipple open. Don't forget to top up reservoir as this process will use quite a lot of fluid through the sytem.
Open nipple and push the push rod into slave as far as you can, hold it there and close nipple, repeat a couple more times observing clear fluid into tube ~ ideally no bubbles now. Check nipple firmly closed.
Then get a length of wood say 2 by 1" or better still a tube about 20" long ~ as used with small hydraulic jack handles works well.
No need for the assistant inside the car now except to observe the pedal ~ still on the floor. The next operation should return the clutch pedal to the fully raised position so that it stays there!
Place the wood or tube in such a way that you can use it to lever carefully and slowly the push rod into the slave cylinder ~ only this time with the bleed nipple still locked shut NOT open. As you do this, provided you have expelled all the air from the sytem as described above, you should hear the clutch pedal return to the fully up position WITHOUT assistance as your pushing fluid back up the system towards the master cylinder. This process usually will make a 'clunk' inside the car as it does so. If it does, you know you've sorted it and you can relax the leverage pressure on the slave push rod so that it returns.
Select neutral and start car. Depress clutch and select various gears to check operation.
Did that last weekend. My son since reports that the clutch and gear operation on his car is better than at any time before.... Sorted.
And a Rover 800 guy:
Get a jar, few metres of rubber tubing.
Make two holes in the lid for the rubber tubing.
One length of tube goes from caliper bleeder to jar.
Other length goes from vacuum outlet on the inlet manifold into the jar.
Start the engine and you've got a vacuum pump.
Open or close the lid or close the bleed nipple to control the fluid input/output.
Dont let the tube from inlet manifold dip into the brake fluid or it'll go into the engine, shouldn't cause any damage anyway, just clouds of white smoke as it gets burnt.
I used a coffee jar, drilled two holes etc, keep the cardboard bit from the lid or it won't seal.
5 mitres of clear 5 mill tubing from Focus, less than a fiver.
Needs to be a glass or metal jar or it'll just collapse before you generate enough vacuum to suck the fluid out.
I'm surprised how much vacuum a 2 litre car can generate actually.
You will get the odd splash of fluid up the vacuum pipe, as long as you don't let the fluid get to the same level as the vacuum pipe you wont have a problem.
Used less than 500 ml to bleed a Rover 800, I've now got almost a whole gallon of Dot4 sitting in the cupboard, looks like I'll be bleeding every car I can find to finish off what's left.
Hope this helps.
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