Durango Kid

I had a scare this past week and I thought I would pass my expeience along. I was driving to work and all of a sudden my car didn't really want to go into first coming off a stop sign. Came up to their next light and the clutch pedal nearly went to the floor before engaging. Turn out my fluid was a little low and got some air in the system. While topping it off I noticed that it was also very dark/dirty so I thought I complete flush was in order.

I got my '03 back in late December. I have seen a lot of recommendations for changing out the diff fluid and tranny fluid and I swapped both in March. I only have 39k mi on my BB and I hadn't stumbled across any threads talking about the clutch fluid before so it never even occurred to me that it should be checked. After the flush the clutch feels much better and the engagement point is much higher in the pedal throw. My guess now is that the fluid may have been have been a maintenance oversight by the original owner and original.

My recommendation for new owners and prospective new owners is simple and should have been obviously to me as well. Keep the clutch fluid inspection and maintenance high on the priority list.

Jah2000

It gets dirty super quick because it uses such a small amount/volume of fluid. It get dirtier 1000x faster than the brake system lines/mc.
Best is to change it super frequently - at every motor oil change.

darcyw

#1- check under the dash where the clutch rod attaches to the end of the clutch pedal- work your way back to the firewall- what does the master cylinder look like where the rod goes in? Likely looks like there is a gooey grey mess- may even have some on your carpet just below it. I cleaned that up and watched it closely.

I flushed the system with DOT4 ATE brake fluid several times over the period of 2 months or so. I saw that there was a tiny dribble of fluid after several days of usage. I just decided to change out the CMC as they are relatively inexpensive.

good advice is to change the fluid frequently.

​​​​​​​darcy

B serious

Its probably best to use DOT3...especially if yours has already leaked at some point.

Durango Kid

Darcy's,
That was some spot on advice right there. I just went to the garage and ding, goopy gray matter on both the shaft as well as the carpet. Not a lot, but I'm glad I caught this just in time to not trash my carpet. Thank you! I take it this is caused by a seal going? Any recollection of what an CMC goes for approximately?

B-serious,
Why do you recommend DOT3 if it already leaked a bit? I understand the viscosity is different but it seems to me that the opposite should be true since 4 is slightly 'thicker'. I put DOT4 in the other day.

Jah2000,
I get where you're coming from..

Thank you all!
DK

GSteg

OEM is about $105. P/N 46920-S2A-003

I bought Nissin master cylinder and it's 95% identical to the OEM. Cost me $70 and it's been holding up for years in stop and go city commute.

Do note that it's not uncommon for these cylinders to leak if the fluid is dirty. Usually the problem goes away if you routinely change the fluid out of the reservoir. I change mine once every 3-4 months.

panda25

Do you just suck the fluid out of the reservoir with a baster then pour new fluid in?

DC5Daniel

I just ordered a new OEM CMC as I have the same issue, like most do. Many claim that refreshing the fluid will stop the leak, but in my opinion the damage is already done. For $105 shipped, why not get another 10+ years out of a new part, and keep a good eye on the fluid contamination. You can do a real flush when replacing the part, and then periodically just refresh the fluid in the reservoir to keep things clean.

Billman recommends a quality replacement fluid, such as ATE TYP 200, which is known to be resist water absorption better than the factory fluid. Take that for what it's worth.

Saki GT

CMC has a reputation for leaking at the firewall and is pretty easy to swap out. I swapped mine originally around 5 years because of leaking, and just had the same thing happen with the pedal getting light and the fluid being low. Sure enough, the CMC is leaking and it could be replaced again.

white98ls

When I had my S2k I would do this once a year. Suck dirty fluid out, replace with new fluid, pump the clutch pedal 10-12x, then repeat several times until clear.