Hi,
Maybe someone can help me out with this. I have an 02 OZ Rally Lancer and the clutch gave out on me. It was stuck in. I took it to an import shop and the guy said that the slave cylinder for the clutch blew a seal. He said it'd be $500 because of the labor due to the slave cylinder being inside my tranny case. Is that true? Secondly, he said that my clutch is 90% worn down. I've only got 45K miles on it. Is that normal, or is he ripping me off? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.


D

 

At 45,000 miles, depending on how you've driven, it's possible that you are close to the clutch's end of life. At the very least, on most cars, it would be likely that you'd be close enough that it would be worth replacing, should you be ripping apart the transmission anyway. I don't know the location of the slave cylinder specifically, but assuming he's not lying and he really does need to open up the transmission already, it may well be worth having the clutch/pressure plate replaced now, rather than a few months from now. You can rest assured that replacing them will cost several hundred in labor as well.
-N

 

Thanks for the reply.


D

 

sounds about right to me.... I had my slave cylinder replaced at about 28,000 miles along with the clutch and resurfacing of the flywheel for about 600 for parts and labor.... the slave cylinder was free because it was a mitsu defect part.... and yes it is a built in slave cylinder... Talk to a dealer and see how much they would charge.

 

My 2002 Lancer Oz Rally also blew a slave cylinder seal. Blew brake fluid all over clutch, pressure plate, flywheel. etc. Pushed in the clutch and heard a pop. Then clutch pedal went to the floor. Sounds like another defect. The dealer is working on it right now. $1009.35 to pick it up. Blew me out of the water.

 

To sum up - do you have a warranty? If so, make fix it. If not, let the speed shop guy fix it. And maybe upgrade while you're in there, if you have the $$$ handy...

 

This is an interesting problem that the 2002 and 2003 Lancers have. In the 2004 and 2005 the slave cylinder is no longer internal.

Anyways, I have the same issue. My car has 60K Miles (2003) of mostly highway miles on it. The Slave blew a seal and asked to get it repaired under the power train warranty. Rejected!!! as it is "A wear item". Contested it to District parts manager... Rejected!!!

So I took a look at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ and researched the car and found a few complaints with the slave cylinder. So as a good citizen, I called NHSTB and filed a complaint. I am hoping that enough people that have had this issue file complaints with NHTSB to force a recall.

Why should you??? Well, simply put, go out pay for new aftermarket clutch (you will need to replace the clutch as the brake fluid from leaking slave cylinder get on your clutch disc, destroying it) save the reciepts for install and parts. If a recall is issued, then they are forced to pay you back what you spent!

 

i don't know if i have the same problem.... but i think i do.... i'm at 150,678k for the first time my clutch got loose on a red traffic light the green came on the the red again so i couldn't shifted the 1th gear. when i finally did.... the other gear shifted ok... i got to a parking lot the clutch got loose again like when your brakes go.... so i couldn't shift. i called a friend we flush the brake fluid out i would pump the clutch 3x and leave it press all the way down and he would release the brake fluid out (it would come out bubbly with air... we repeated it 3 or 4 times....) after that the clutch got its normal press pressure.... and i was shifting...... about 4 or 6 days later it happened again in the morning the clutch was loose.....so we did it again the same steps from before..... what i notice that the brake fluid was low and it would keep getting low everyday after everyday i would add brake fluid so i said there must be a leak this time it was more.... thats way the first time i didn't notice it wasn't leaking much ... so i don't know if this is my problem. i checked the lines and they dont seem to be broken or leaking from the ends... under the trans they are two nobs or nuts if i touch them the brake fluid wets the tip of my finger..... so one thing i don't know is it my cylinders or the leaking part too ... any toughs or comments would help on this thx!

 

First off you DO NOT bleed the clutch the same way as bleeding brakes. To bleed a clutch here is what you do:

1) Have your friend open the bleeder valve for the clutch.
2) Push the clutch to the floor one time, hold it and DO NOT LET OFF
3) Have your friend close the valve.
4) Once the valve is closed let off the clutch completely
5) Repeat steps 1-4 3 or 4 times.

This way you will know for sure its not due to improper clutch bleeding procedure. If your losing fluid just follow the line from the master cylinder down to where it enters the transmission and feel for fluid. If the slave itself is leaking you would feel some fluid coming from the bottom of the bellhousing of the tranny