I discovered tonight, hanging upside down on the driver's side floorboard, that my master cylinder is leaking. I believe this is most likely the cause of my innability to shift into most any gear after coming to a stop without some serious effort, and the clutch dragging a bit (noticeable when taking the car out of any gear and into neutral).

Having just replaced the fluid in the resevoir with new Dot 4, I can attest to the old stuff being black... apparently its started to eat things.

Anybody ever replaced their master cylinder? Or, assuming this is too much of a PITA to do myself, what I'm looking at in damages at the dealer?

 

I think they all leak a little. I bought a replacement but before I swapped it out I was pointing out the location on another car and saw it had a drop.. and the third I looked at did as well. I have not yet replaced mine but it does not look very difficult.

 

i knew this would happen to another member soon. The clutch master should be pretty straight foward to replace. This is why changing the clutch fluid is so important with this car. Check out my fluid at 10k, old and new...

 

Mine was worse than that... I claim no contest however, since I just bought the car and I certainly never would have left it that long.

The problem I have now is that I can't seem to find any autoparts places that carry master cylinders for the car. I guess I'll have to go get one from Honda.

Any idea what they run?

Also, I'll obviously need to bleed the system afterwards... where the heck is the clutch bleed valve???

 

It's on the slave cyl on the driver's side of the transmission.

 

Sweet... more time on my back under the car

 

Since you're breaking the hydraulics anyway, it might be a good idea to remove the slave cyl from the side of the tranny and disassemble/clean it out. I'll guess that it's full of trash as well. One tip, don't let a single drop of brake fluid come in contact with any painted surface, it will ruin it quickly. And, go to a Honda motorcycle dealer and get a bottle of Honda DOT 4 brake fluid(you won't find it at the car dealer). Have it in my clutch now, and 7k since the last fluid change. Still crystal clear...

 

Same questions here. My brake light came on b/c (as I later discovered) the "floatie" in the master cylinder is broken, and the ECU thinks the cylinder is close to empty...when it is in fact FULL. I figure it's probably easier to replace the whole cylinder rather than just the floatie.

Let us know what u find out heff.

 

Billman: Doesn't Honda recommend DOT 3 - they are not identical, and contain different additives, and Honda is particular about its fluids (such as Power steering, auto trannies, etc.). Even the aftermarket power steering fluids say "Not for use on Honda vehicles". So hence my question.

 

Dot3 and Dot4 are compatible in "3&4" systems. You Should NEVER add 3 to a 4 only system. The clutch system and the brake system, on the S, are designed for 3 or 4. Go with 4 for a higher standard of brake fluid.