zeroptzero

A while back I was adjusting my clutch rod and I found a large drop of brake fluid sitting at the end of the rod cylinder. I wiped it off, and later on I swapped in new fluid and bled the system while doing the slave cylinder lube. The fluid has never returned and I haven't had any issues with the clutch at any time. It's perfectly dry so far and it has been about 1000 miles since the first drop appeared. There is no evidence of fluid ever dripping down the firewall or carpeting around that area, it was just one drop resting on the rod area. Could this just have been a fluke or will the CMC start to fail on me soon ?. Thanks for any opinion.

s2kftw

well.. i just found mine is leaking, and there is fluid marks down the plastic panel to the left of the clutch petal, on the rod from the CMC, and fluid drops on the carpet under the rod. There is also a black "sludge" showing on the rod from the CMC.. i'd say mine is bad, and yours may be starting to go... just keep an eye on it, and if you feel things starting to change in the shifting, i'd go ahead and change it, since its relatively cheap and an easy fix... i can take a picture of what a bad CMC looks like, if it makes you feel more comfortable.. i've been having to baby shifting the car for a little while now

RedY2KS2k

Maybe, maybe not.

Many have reported that they needed to replace their clutch master cylinders or slave cylinders before your mileage. However, I'm at about 9 years old and 60k miles and my clutch works fine.

Siggy

A trusted mechanic told me this is a common problems (ap1s mostly) witch is due to dirty clutch fluid, if you do a search on clutch fluid threads it seems the car likes to eat mostly, he also stated the more you change it or flush the system (depending on your method of changining) the 'leak' will stop over time. just wipe of the drip or 2.

whether or not your x cylinder is failing is beyond me, just ym 2 cents.

zeroptzero

thanks for all of the replies guys, that is helpful. My car is an 02 with 55k miles. Prior to the drip the clutch fluid was very dark as I just bought the car 2 months ago, I'm speculating that it was the original fluid. I put in new fluid and gave it a good flush, and the drip hasn't returned yet. S2kftw I was looking hard to see some staining like you describe I thought that would be a telltale sign, but nothing in the area yet.

I'll keep an eye on it the next while. I guess I should expect to replace it in the near future based on the age of it. thanks for the helpful info.

drewmob

mine lasted almost 2 years after i initially noticed the sludge. its a sign that its dying, but not necessarily dead yet.

zeroptzero

ah that's cool, maybe the new fluid gave it a bit more life. I'll plan on getting a new one in the near future, if it can last another 6 months I'll be happy with that. Thanks for the heads up

s2kftw

well, for a little more information for you about my ordeal...
mine is a '02 w/ 33k (on it now), when i got it, about 7 or 8 months ago it had 29k, and it had what looked to be the original fluid in it. I didnt have any issues with anything, until i changed my clutch fluid.

I changed it about 1000 miles ago, and bled it perfectly fine (i do this damn near daily for a living), and in the past month -2 months, i've been noticing that shifting into gears while stopped has become harder and harder. Even shifting while driving, i need to granny shift and double clutch (every now and then on a down shift), which has had me confused for a while, until i checked the CMC... and it all made sense. I'm assuming that besides fluid leaking, air is being let into the system, which is screwing everything shifting wise, haha.

I just wanted to give you the heads up, everything was great when i first changed the fluid, then things went downhill and got progressively worse... keep an eye on the fluid level, and def. keep an eye on your CMC

zeroptzero

thanks for the info, that is good to know, I guess they can pretty much fail at any time then, probably no rhyme or reason to it. I'll definitely be checking it from now on, it'll eventually get to the point that checking it will be more of a hassle than slapping in a new one and it will get done in the near future.