97 3.8 5 speed clutch fluid leak!

[dapopes]

My bright purple metalic 97 is leaking the clutch fluid, but i cant pinpoint the leak! the line is dry, the floor board and pedal is dry, yet the resivour keeps goin dry! has anyone ever seen it leaking from anywhere else besides where i previously mentioned?

[DeltaP]

How about the other end... the slave cylinder itself !

[dapopes]

I found today that its dripping at a pretty fast rate from the front of the bell housing by the flywheel. Is that where the slave cylinder is? Is the slave cylinder at the end of the braided line? And how do I access that to stop the leak?

[dapopes]

Can anyone tell me if a leaky slave cylinder is a common prob? When they go out do they start eaking and quit workin? Or is there a seal in them that goes bad? Is there an o-ring where the line connects to it that leaks? Thank you for any answers!!

[DeltaP]

Fairly common problem. You can usually pump up a bad slave cyl a coupla times to catch gears without grinding. Like "double clutching" an 18 wheeler transmission. Fluid starts to by-pass the worn seal on the piston in the slave cylinder. My experience has been to replace both the slave and the clutch master cylinder at the same time. It wont be far behind and will fail soon. The worst thing to do to a hydraulic clutch is to "ride" the pedal. That not only puts wear on the hydraulics but also the clutch release bearing.

[dapopes]

Thanks for the response! It's definitely leakin @ the slave! I'm contemplating puttin a new one on myself. Thought I might as well put new clutch, pressure plate and look @ the flywheel for excessive wear. I'll do the master too. I've never done it before, so I'm pretty nervous about it! I'm doin it in a rock/dirt driveway, so not the most convenient! The top bolt on the tranny looks impossible to get to!!

[DeltaP]

Cut up some plywood squares to put under your jackstands. Or get a cheap sheet of plywood to drive up on. That way you'll have little problems using a jack under the transmission. HTH