So after I lost pressure in my hydraulic clutch the first time I replaced bothe the master and slave cylinders. I checked it all out and there wer no apparent leaks.

Today, My clutch pedal started to feel the way it did just before it went out just a few weeks ago. So I manage to make it home and I look under the hood and the fluid level is below the low mark and looks pretty dirty again. I also look at all the hydraulic connections and NONE of them were leaking at all!

What's going on here? The only parts I didn't replace were the hard line and the rubber line. Could the rubber line be the culprit?

 

I'd have to think it's a good guess that one of those two lines is bad if you just replaced the two cylinders and there's no leaks at the connections :-)

Perhaps pump the clutch a bunch of times in the driveway, walk away for a bit, then look underneath the car?

 

When the fluid turns dark colour, that means somewhere in the system air is getting in. replace the hardline and get a stainless steel braided (soft) hose

 

where can i get those lines?

 

Mazdatrix has the clutch SS braided line for about $12-14 and is a good purchase. I just changed out the same hydraulics (MC/Slave/SS line) last weekend and am amazed at the additional clutch 'feel' that I now have.

Sorry to hear of your clutch problems, but keep in mind that the only other place that it can leak is through the firewall below the clutch pedal. If your piston seal is gone, the fluid can leak it's way past the piston seal, the oil seal, and exit at the clutch pedal where the pushrod enters the piston.

You should be able to look under here and see if there's a problem with the internal piston seals. If so, a rebuild kit (MC) or a new MC will fix the problem. Have a look and report back,

 

It's that soft hose - I've had several of them go bad. Worst thing is, the fluid disappears and you ASSUME it couldn't be the hose 'cause you don't see fluid under the hood. The hard line should be OK.

B

 

I looked under the pedal already and it's been dry since I replaced the master cylinder. I'll look at Mazdatrix when I have time and order a new line.

 

 

I ordered the SS braided line, hopefully that will solve my problems.

I went driving today and made sure the resavoir was full before I left. I drove about 2 miles and when I came back, the resavoir was halfway between full and low. Where is all this fluid going? Like I said before, I looked at all the connections and they are all dry!

 

are you getting an unexplained smoke coming from under the car at about the front of the tranny cause mine was squirting instead of seeping and the line looked dry from every where except where i couldnt see it

 

i'll look into that tomorrow

 

And pull up the carpet on the drivers side. Thats where my mystery clutch leak was. The carpet was dry, but the padding was soaked, all the paint on the floorboard was gone, and it was starting to rust.

 

im almost certain that it is not coming out the back of the master cylinder anymore, although it was before I replaced it.

I'll look at that tomorrow.

 

Pull the boot off of the Clutch Slave Cylinder and see if that's where the fluid is leaking out. What can happen is that the fluid is seeping past the SC rubber piston, out into the rubber boot, and the easiest exit from the rubber boot is right where the 'point' goes out into the Clutch Fork on the tranny - when you get it leaking out here, it runs down the clutch fork and into the transmission bell housing, so you don't see any drips.

Pretty wild, huh? All you have to do is squeeze the rubber boot on the SC and you'll know...

 

when i pulled the original slave cylinder off there was fluid in the boot. It has about a week old slave cylinder now. I'll squeeze it tomrrow and see if it is doing that again.

 

I had a leak where the handbrake joins.

 

I have an 87, and just before i crashed it, i was having clutch problems similar to yours. I replaced ONLY the soft hose and upon inspection, this was definitely the culprate. However, it kept leaking for a few days through the master cylinder, my guess is because of the added pressure that the new hose was providing, where before there was probably not much. Anyway, it worked great for about 3 weeks, then i hit a damn curb and now my 87 is simply takin up space on my dads lawn. But that was the first step in me acquiring my 84 gsl-se, so it's not all bad

 

I finally replaced the soft line with the SS braided one from Mazdatrix. All is well again!

Thanks guys for all the help.

 

As I thought. The leaking hose is sneaky because you can't see any fluid squirted around.

B

 

well done !! ....... next.