Tehvine

This DIY will show you what I did to replace my clutch slave cylinder that was leaking. Problem with the car was that whenever I would stop with the clutch disengaged for more than a minute, the pedal would catch oddly near the floor or get stuck.

Disclaimer: This is for reference only and if you hurt yourself / car / property I am not liable.

You will need:
12MM Socket + Socket Wrench
10MM Open Ended wrench
9MM Open Ended wrench
Some small hose to fit over the bleeder fitting
Some sort of container for the bleeder to empty into
DOT 3 or DOT 4 equivalent brake fluid (I used just to the first i in Vitamin water on my bottle - see last picture)
Small bit of patience
And last but not least - a new slave cylinder complete with all parts

Torque Specs:
Clutch pipe fitting: 11 lbft
Bleeder screw: 7.2 lbft
Mounting Bolts: 16 lbft

Estimated time of job:
30 - 45 mins if not less

First thing first, loosen the two 12MM bolts on the bottom of the slave cylinder but do not remove them yet.


Next up, use the 10MM open ended wrench to loosen and remove the hard clutch line. DO NOT bend this line while taking it out, I found it best to just loosen the nut to where it moves freely on the line. Also a drip pan wouldn't hurt.

Next, remove the driver side 12MM bolt followed by the passenger side. When the driver side is released, the slave cylinder will push itself back and that side will go downwards and away from the hardened clutch line.

Now you should be left with this:


Next, Grab your new slave cylinder and carefully push the piston in enough to get the pushrod into the lever on the left that controls the clutch. Once it is compressed enough and lined up, slide in and start the passenger side 12MM bolt.



The next parts are a bit tricky. You will have to use a bit more force to get the driver side bolt hole lined up. At the same time you will want to remove the dust plug from the new slave cylinder and try to line up your clutch line. Once you get that driver side bolt started, you can now work on the clutch line. I found it best to get the 12MM bolts just about a turn from being hand tight and then trying to thread in the clutch line. After this is done, tighten down the mounting bolts.

Now that you're all bolted up with the line secured, you will want to get your 9mm wrench, hose, brake fluid, and some sort of container to catch the fluid in.

Loosen the bleeder screw just a turn or two and attach the hose like so:


Now run that hose into whatever you are using to catch fluid in, I used a vitamin water bottle. Then go up to your firewall and open up your clutch reservoir. It is the smaller of the two closer to the fender. Make sure the lid is clean of any debris before you remove it as you would not want any of this falling into there.

Top off the reservoir then swing around into the car and slowly pump the clutch pedal. I only had to do this once or twice and the fluid started to bleed itself via gravity. At that point I just kept the reservoir topped off and watched the hose until the air bubbles stopped.



Once the bubbles stop flowing out, tighten the bleeder screw, make sure you have enough clutch fluid (check the level line on the side of the res), then test out the clutch. Make sure to not overtighten the clutch line or the bleeder screw. My friend had left his torque wrench here so I torqued the mounting bolts to 16 lbft.

If the clutch passes the driveway test and there are no leaks, take it out for a road test.

If the road test goes well, mission accomplished.

iansanderson

Excellent write-up! Now I know the the slave cylinder causes the "clutch on the floor" prob.

xcjrex

Thanks for the write up. I was able to replace it within an hour. I found it difficult to unscrew the hardline nut itself without stripping the hell out of it. So I ended up holding the nut with the wrench and twisting the cylinder itself off after some wd40.

diyautoftw

Great write up!