Great video. Even showing what happens when doing it the wrong way is very helpful. That's pure genius to do that for us before doing it the best way. (For a one person job. )
I bled my 2009 LE Evora's clutch from the top. Found it much easier than from underneath: - Remove Engine cover and the bar that holds it. - Step into trunk, and run your hand down the metal header heat shield. - About arms length down, you'll hit the 'slit' in the header heat shield. Use your fingers and bend the lower part of that shield towards the header. Your slave bleeder is on the opposite site of that piece you bent. - Install an 8mm wrench and vacuum bleeder - Bleed away
I tried feeling around in there from the top. It felt difficult to me. I might try it from the top the next time. I'm a big guy so getting into the back of my trunk is a little concerning to me. Since this seems like something we will have to do annually I'll give it another try next time I have to bleed the clutch. Thanks!
Thank You very much! When I went to search for how-to videos for the Evora, I was surprised there wasn't any. So I decided I'm going to do the community the favor and make 'em myself. It's been a journey!
Hey Ryan, saw your FB post on the issue you had, I was the one who asked about the 400 bleeder location. For 400 GT owners, its not possible to bleed it from the bottom since the trans cooler is in the way. So you have to bleed it from the top practically laying inside the engine bay. It took me a really long time to physically get to the bleeder. Even though it was hard to get to, there was a good amount of room to work with after pushing the heat shield a little back. I couldn't get a hose on it no matter how hard i tried since the clearance was so tight that even after getting the tube on, any slight movement of your hand would dislodge it. So, not proud of this, but just bled it exposed. I did the motiv dry bleed method and actually ran the clutch dry 2 times since I was not used to how little fluid is in there. But I could tell I ran it dry because the bleeder started to fart indicating air was in the line so I guess its good I bled it exposed. But yeah lesson learned, you need to keep the fluid topped off as much as possible, even when bleeding the brakes as you can still bleed the clutch dry if you let too much fluid out. And also always bleed brakes and clutch together as they share the resorvoir. So the clutch going to the floor did happen to me but luckily, I checked before finishing up the bleed, luckily I had 2 bottles of castrol SRF to go through. Pedal feel is as firm as its ever been
Good stuff - All's well that ends well. It certainly wouldn't be my preference to bleed it exposed - I manage to make a mess on my projects even when I'm trying to be clean! lol. It's a little frustrating that Lotus wasn't able to get us a little better setup even on the later 400 models. I saw on the forums that someone is working on a remote bleeder system to replace the existing one. That would make life quite a bit easier - hope they do succeed to develop something. By the way - I've only had my car 2 years. So this is my first clutch bleed. I'm curious on everyone's experiences of bleeding the clutch - most critically the frequency. If I track my car, I may do it annually. But otherwise I might just do it anytime the brake fluid is flushed!
@@GoodmorningGoodnight I agree but I tried a few different hoses and nothing worked, there's just no way to get anything but a wrench down there so I just laid a pan at the bottom to catch the fluid and wiped everything i saw after I was done. I saw that too but I think one person actually got it done but i also read that the exact fitting and adapter are hard to find...seems a bit complicated. So I drive pretty spiritedly and track 1-2 times a year so I try to replace mine annually. My warranty just expired in June that had free service packages so I had to do it myself. Keep an eye on how dark the fluid gets and I'd make it a practice to flush annually, especially if you track a lot, it gets pretty filthy quickly
Hahahah. My favorite part of all of this is the distinctly wrong minimum line on the reservoir. Lol. Just ran the car at the Atlantic City Autocross yesterday . Placed 15th out of 64. Not too bad. I'll take that as a win. And indeed, I'm looking forward to The Porsche versus Lotus showdown!
Very well done video! It will help future owners and those that haven't tried yet! I came from the manual method days to trying vacuum (hated it), Motive dry and Motive wet. I had exact same experiences in the journey there. Always start with clutch then RR, LR, RF then left front. I've left light and tools behind along the way as well. Well done!
Just realized when I bled my brakes last time I 100% forgot about the clutch. Know I have boiled it on a couple 3 hour trips with mild 90-100mph patches. It needs to come out bad though. I swapped in dot 5.1 and it worked very well. Also very much so need to wrap that line because I think I wrapped the wrong one after the first boil I had. Yikes.
Yes indeed. This is important. No fun to have the clutch pedal go to the floor and stay there! I would say you should do the clutch each time you do the brakes ideally. Hopefully this video will help!
@@GoodmorningGoodnight I appreciate it and good to see this logged in much greater detail than I've seen elsewhere. Like someone else commented, I just bled with no line because it was impossible to get anything to stay on the nipple, which is basically bleeding blind but a last option.
@@MrEnigmaClueless that’s how I bled my 2011 Evora and I had no issues. As long as the system is pressurized no air should get in via the bleed valve. Always wet bleed though
If Frank did the brake fluid flush, he had to have done the clutch. My buddy's Evora S was having clutch feel issues, from what Frank could tell, the clutch was never flushed with the brakes. I thought he always flushed the clutch with the brakes.
Yep. Hard to tell. Maybe flushed maybe not. I know the fluid that came out looked pretty terrible. I'll watch it. Might just have been boiled from a few too many track days. I was really hoping that a flushed clutch would be able to last at least a season of autocross and track days. But perhaps, I need to do it more frequently.
Had this issue on my 2015 Evora. Suggest you do the simple modification to the slave as shown in my UT video. Solves the access and bleeding problem for good. Takes me less than 5 minutes to bleed the clutch now. Search UT for "Lotus Evora Clutch"
Hi Mark. I see two videos on your account - one for the traction control and one for the Master Cylinder. Do you bleed it off of the master? How do you access it without taking off the clam?
I bleed the clutch slave as per "normal", ie through the Brake Master Reservoir but using the extension pipe that I have made and attached to the Clutch Slave. Didn't take of the rear clam. This extension has a "Pressure Tap Test Adapter" (google it) (ie tap) at the end of it and sticks out under the undertray. Open and close the tap as you would normally bleed the system. Hint to modify the Clutch slave. Easy enough to get out but pig to align to get in. Cut of the heads of two bolts that are about the same length as the Slave Cylinder Bolts or use studs. Thread these (now) studs into the gearbox housing slightly without the slave in place. Plonk the slave over the studs which will align it properly, take out one stud and replace with original bolt, take out next stud and replace with original, tighten. Before this you do have to thread the slave to take an 8x1.0 hydraulic fitting where the normal bleed nipple is
For sure a labor of love, I envision an almost perfect car in performance, handling, reliability and looks. I envision a frame modification. Some how a very sturdily frame section cut,removal and replaced. 2 bolted in 2 spots. Maybe flawed but my vision. ;))
you have a great sense of humor. so frustating some of the dumb things Lotus has done. bleed screw next to heat. insane and tight to boot. Im also pissed that you have to take rear clam off to change the clutch along with motor pull. I wonder is it possible to cut/re-weld the frame for clutch work with engine in car. thread frame back together with multiple bolts in 2 spots. im amazing how dedicated you are. this car is so beautiful but some of the items with the great toyota motor almost ruin the car
Mike, it is a labor of love. The car is special and it requires special attention. Thus far it's actually been a very good car to own; though not without its faults. And I love that it's so unique. If you can come up with a system to change the clutch from the bottom, you'd have us Lotus guys standing in line for your service!
You are a credit to Evora people everywhere. Love your stuff, the car, the daughter, the humor, the lot.
@@lewbarrett thank you!
Great video. Even showing what happens when doing it the wrong way is very helpful. That's pure genius to do that for us before doing it the best way. (For a one person job. )
@@jimslimm6090 haha. Thank you. This one one where I really had to share my knowledge. It's different than what you would expect!
I bled my 2009 LE Evora's clutch from the top. Found it much easier than from underneath:
- Remove Engine cover and the bar that holds it.
- Step into trunk, and run your hand down the metal header heat shield.
- About arms length down, you'll hit the 'slit' in the header heat shield. Use your fingers and bend the lower part of that shield towards the header. Your slave bleeder is on the opposite site of that piece you bent.
- Install an 8mm wrench and vacuum bleeder
- Bleed away
I tried feeling around in there from the top. It felt difficult to me. I might try it from the top the next time. I'm a big guy so getting into the back of my trunk is a little concerning to me. Since this seems like something we will have to do annually I'll give it another try next time I have to bleed the clutch. Thanks!
Your channel is so underrated! Thanks for documenting all these Evora activities.
Thank You very much! When I went to search for how-to videos for the Evora, I was surprised there wasn't any. So I decided I'm going to do the community the favor and make 'em myself. It's been a journey!
Hey Ryan, saw your FB post on the issue you had, I was the one who asked about the 400 bleeder location. For 400 GT owners, its not possible to bleed it from the bottom since the trans cooler is in the way. So you have to bleed it from the top practically laying inside the engine bay. It took me a really long time to physically get to the bleeder. Even though it was hard to get to, there was a good amount of room to work with after pushing the heat shield a little back. I couldn't get a hose on it no matter how hard i tried since the clearance was so tight that even after getting the tube on, any slight movement of your hand would dislodge it. So, not proud of this, but just bled it exposed. I did the motiv dry bleed method and actually ran the clutch dry 2 times since I was not used to how little fluid is in there. But I could tell I ran it dry because the bleeder started to fart indicating air was in the line so I guess its good I bled it exposed. But yeah lesson learned, you need to keep the fluid topped off as much as possible, even when bleeding the brakes as you can still bleed the clutch dry if you let too much fluid out. And also always bleed brakes and clutch together as they share the resorvoir. So the clutch going to the floor did happen to me but luckily, I checked before finishing up the bleed, luckily I had 2 bottles of castrol SRF to go through. Pedal feel is as firm as its ever been
Good stuff - All's well that ends well. It certainly wouldn't be my preference to bleed it exposed - I manage to make a mess on my projects even when I'm trying to be clean! lol. It's a little frustrating that Lotus wasn't able to get us a little better setup even on the later 400 models. I saw on the forums that someone is working on a remote bleeder system to replace the existing one. That would make life quite a bit easier - hope they do succeed to develop something.
By the way - I've only had my car 2 years. So this is my first clutch bleed. I'm curious on everyone's experiences of bleeding the clutch - most critically the frequency. If I track my car, I may do it annually. But otherwise I might just do it anytime the brake fluid is flushed!
I can't find it at the moment, but there was a post on Lotus Talk on modifying the 400/GT bleed valve so it's not as huge of a hassle.
@@GoodmorningGoodnight I agree but I tried a few different hoses and nothing worked, there's just no way to get anything but a wrench down there so I just laid a pan at the bottom to catch the fluid and wiped everything i saw after I was done. I saw that too but I think one person actually got it done but i also read that the exact fitting and adapter are hard to find...seems a bit complicated.
So I drive pretty spiritedly and track 1-2 times a year so I try to replace mine annually. My warranty just expired in June that had free service packages so I had to do it myself. Keep an eye on how dark the fluid gets and I'd make it a practice to flush annually, especially if you track a lot, it gets pretty filthy quickly
@@jedifar yep. I think annually would be good for anyone doing some serious driving.
Thank you!
Sarah just popped in and asked what was wrong b/c she heard me go: "NOOOOOOOOOOO..." 😬Glad to see you've recovered, see you @ Bader in a week or two!
Hahahah. My favorite part of all of this is the distinctly wrong minimum line on the reservoir. Lol. Just ran the car at the Atlantic City Autocross yesterday . Placed 15th out of 64. Not too bad. I'll take that as a win. And indeed, I'm looking forward to The Porsche versus Lotus showdown!
Very well done video! It will help future owners and those that haven't tried yet! I came from the manual method days to trying vacuum (hated it), Motive dry and Motive wet. I had exact same experiences in the journey there. Always start with clutch then RR, LR, RF then left front. I've left light and tools behind along the way as well. Well done!
Perhaps it's a right of passage. A moment manual Lotus owners will share together. A bond, once made that shall never be broken. 😆
I wondered if the clutch should be done before or after brakes. I am not sure which way best ensures full bleed of clutch slave without over doing
Just realized when I bled my brakes last time I 100% forgot about the clutch. Know I have boiled it on a couple 3 hour trips with mild 90-100mph patches. It needs to come out bad though. I swapped in dot 5.1 and it worked very well. Also very much so need to wrap that line because I think I wrapped the wrong one after the first boil I had. Yikes.
Yes indeed. This is important. No fun to have the clutch pedal go to the floor and stay there! I would say you should do the clutch each time you do the brakes ideally. Hopefully this video will help!
Cheers to the Lotus community, who've broken knuckles and bled so that we (mostly) don't have to.
Great cars and great community. Happy to be a part of it! Hopefully you saw your "shout out" at ~20 minutes in!
@@GoodmorningGoodnight I appreciate it and good to see this logged in much greater detail than I've seen elsewhere.
Like someone else commented, I just bled with no line because it was impossible to get anything to stay on the nipple, which is basically bleeding blind but a last option.
@@MrEnigmaClueless that’s how I bled my 2011 Evora and I had no issues. As long as the system is pressurized no air should get in via the bleed valve. Always wet bleed though
If Frank did the brake fluid flush, he had to have done the clutch. My buddy's Evora S was having clutch feel issues, from what Frank could tell, the clutch was never flushed with the brakes. I thought he always flushed the clutch with the brakes.
Yep. Hard to tell. Maybe flushed maybe not. I know the fluid that came out looked pretty terrible. I'll watch it. Might just have been boiled from a few too many track days. I was really hoping that a flushed clutch would be able to last at least a season of autocross and track days. But perhaps, I need to do it more frequently.
Had this issue on my 2015 Evora. Suggest you do the simple modification to the slave as shown in my UT video. Solves the access and bleeding problem for good. Takes me less than 5 minutes to bleed the clutch now. Search UT for "Lotus Evora Clutch"
Hi Mark.
I see two videos on your account - one for the traction control and one for the Master Cylinder. Do you bleed it off of the master? How do you access it without taking off the clam?
I bleed the clutch slave as per "normal", ie through the Brake Master Reservoir but using the extension pipe that I have made and attached to the Clutch Slave. Didn't take of the rear clam. This extension has a "Pressure Tap Test Adapter" (google it) (ie tap) at the end of it and sticks out under the undertray. Open and close the tap as you would normally bleed the system. Hint to modify the Clutch slave. Easy enough to get out but pig to align to get in. Cut of the heads of two bolts that are about the same length as the Slave Cylinder Bolts or use studs. Thread these (now) studs into the gearbox housing slightly without the slave in place. Plonk the slave over the studs which will align it properly, take out one stud and replace with original bolt, take out next stud and replace with original, tighten. Before this you do have to thread the slave to take an 8x1.0 hydraulic fitting where the normal bleed nipple is
Very interesting. It seems you have addressed one of the big maintenance issues in the car. Thanks for taking the time to share your findings!
wonderful that you make time for you kid to be apart. great bonding
We must do it. They're the next generation of car owners
For sure a labor of love, I envision an almost perfect car in performance, handling, reliability and looks. I envision a frame modification. Some how a very sturdily frame section cut,removal and replaced. 2 bolted in 2 spots. Maybe flawed but my vision. ;))
If you create a kit. Many will buy it!
keep up both the great content and great dad stuff
Thanks so much for the support. I appreciate it
you have a great sense of humor. so frustating some of the dumb things Lotus has done. bleed screw next to heat. insane and tight to boot. Im also pissed that you have to take rear clam off to change the clutch along with motor pull. I wonder is it possible to cut/re-weld the frame for clutch work with engine in car. thread frame back together with multiple bolts in 2 spots. im amazing how dedicated you are. this car is so beautiful but some of the items with the great toyota motor almost ruin the car
Mike, it is a labor of love. The car is special and it requires special attention. Thus far it's actually been a very good car to own; though not without its faults. And I love that it's so unique. If you can come up with a system to change the clutch from the bottom, you'd have us Lotus guys standing in line for your service!
awesome side notes
Thanks alot!