Clutch slave replacement question, and a bit of a rant..

[san rensho]

Happy, happy, joy, joy.

So the clutch slave goes out with classic symptoms, puddle of hydraulic fluid on the floor, fluid level down in the reservoir, barely any pressure in the pedal after i pump it up but luckily I was able to get it home from Palm Beach friday evening w/o having to call a flat bed. Of course none of the dealers in a 3 county radius has the slave so I have to wait till next week to replace it

Today I got the old one out (fairly easy except for the part where i get hydraulic fluid in an eye and have to call 911 and they do the classic transfer me and then put me on HOLD! I thought that only happened in bad jokes.) and there was a quite a bit of hydraulic fluid that was coming out from between the motor and the tranny.

QUESTION. Is the clutch plate now contaminated with hydraulic fluid? I would say I lost 4-8 ounces. Would getting the garden hose and flushing water through the hole where the slave attaches make any difference in cleaning out the tranny fluid or would trying to flush out the fluid make things worse?

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by san rensho

Happy, happy, joy, joy.

So the clutch slave goes out with classic symptoms, puddle of hydraulic fluid on the floor, fluid level down in the reservoir, barely any pressure in the pedal after i pump it up but luckily I was able to get it home from Palm Beach friday evening w/o having to call a flat bed. Of course none of the dealers in a 3 county radius has the slave so I have to wait till next week to replace it

Today I got the old one out (fairly easy except for the part where i get hydraulic fluid in an eye and have to call 911 and they do the classic transfer me and then put me on HOLD! I thought that only happened in bad jokes.) and there was a quite a bit of hydraulic fluid that was coming out from between the motor and the tranny.

QUESTION. Is the clutch plate now contaminated with hydraulic fluid? I would say I lost 4-8 ounces. Would getting the garden hose and flushing water through the hole where the slave attaches make any difference in cleaning out the tranny fluid or would trying to flush out the fluid make things worse?

Chances are that the fluid leak inside the bell housing just dripped down the inside the housing and did not get onto the clutch. That said, I would not be spraying anything into the slave opening to wash it off. If it did get onto the clutch disc and damage it, you will know soon enough, but the odds are in your favor that it did not.

[spendy]

The slave cylinder is located behind the clutch plate, so I doubt you got much fluid on it. I wouldn't spray water or anything else down the hole. I suggest go ahead and replace the slave and see how things work.

(sorry for the duplicate answer, JFP types faster than me)

[thstone]

Don't spray water or anything into the bell housing! Just replace the slave and drive it for awhile. If some fluid did get onto the clutch, it probably wasn't enough to make a difference.