Clutch Slave or Master?

[titanescape]

Need a few opinions....

A few days ago, I noticed the my clutch has like no travel. If I hold it all the way to the floor sometimes I can't get the car out of gear. This happens in first and always after I've had my foot on the clutch for a bit. I checked the fluid level and it was low but no sign of leakage on the garage floor. I filled the reservoir and the problem still exist. The fluid level seems to be holding steady(it's been about 3 days). There is no clutch slippage what so ever.

My dilemma is this...can this be the slave cylinder, the master or both? I was going to go ahead and change them both, bleed out the system and see if that fixes the issue. What do you think?

[sammm]

Slave going out is a common issue. Squeeze the rubber boot around it and see if there's any fluid trapped in it.

[ckearns]

It's most likely the slave - there's a plunger with a rubber diaphragm that rides against a metal body that is consumable. The symptoms you describe point to the slave not building any pressure.

Pinch the boot and break the seal around the housing on the slave to see if any fluid is present - if so, that's the confirmation you're after.

Master cylinders often go the life of the car without failure.

HTH,
Chris

[titanescape]

Ok, cool..i'll go ahead and check for the fluid on the slave. I think I'll get the part anyway, not too expensive and I'll already have it.

[Rob®]

Rule of thumb: if it's a Miata, it needs a slave cylinder. Pretty much any time you even think it's a remotely good idea to check it, it will be bad.

[cam76034]

$20 @ OReilly's, lifetime warranty.

[titanescape]

That's exactly where i was headed at lunch!

[Rob®]

$20 @ OReilly's, lifetime warranty.

Really? That's actually worth the 2 minutes to replace it once a year if needed. I've been through 3 in the last 7 years and 60k miles, at ~$45 each from Mazda. Thanks

[cam76034]

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...1352&ppt=C0015

[Rob®]

Thanks. I've never lived near an Oreilly's so I keep forgetting about them.

[jeepinbanditrider]

I replaced my slave cylinder and 2 weeks later my master took a crap on me. At first I thought the slave cylinder had died again but I crawled in the floor board looked up under the dash and noticed the master cylinder was actually leaking into the passenger compartment but my fluid would visibly drop after a few pumps of the pedal.

[titanescape]

Well I changed the slave, bled out the systems and still the clutch was not good. I pulled back that boot on the old slave and it was full of black sludge. It looked like there had been a leak for some time. I had noticed the fluid was basically dark black and when I had drained out the master, the bottom of the reservior was full of sludge.

I went ahead and changed out the master, bled the system out again and the clutch came back. I went on a nice long test drive today and there are no leaks and the clutch is still working fine.

I guess if the slave is out for a long period of time, it willl eventually lead to master failure.

[Radio-Active]

Or, the grit from the master leads to the slave cylinder going out.