Clutch slave cylinder
 

Long story short.

Clutch went to the floor....durn.:ack2:
Went through a standard clutch fluid reservoir clean out.
New fluid, then I was gone for 2 days.......:)
upon my return I have a stream of DOT3 running down the garage floor from the area of the slave cylinder.... damn:mad:

I'm afraid its safe to say the slave cylinder has failed at 11 years old even with only 22K on the odometer.:banghead::banghead:

Question is approx. cost, and time to get her repaired? I don't have the faculties to do the work here so my guess is a roll back to a shop and a prayer. Oh and did I ad my back no longer wants to play nice with such repairs.:confused::confused::confused:

Aargh.... Sorry to hear this.

Yeah, that's what happened to my C5Z when I was on the way to the Chevy dealership last summer. No easy nor cheap way to do that, since the torque tube back to the differential and rear cradle needs to be pulled out. Probably would be a good idea to replace the pilot bearing at the same time and inspect the clutch.

Bear in mind that those rubber couplers inside the torque tube are also 11 years old. Anything in the drivetrain that is basically a wear item really should be at least inspected once you have the drivetrain out.

It's at least an all day job, and labor is going to cost you between $1,000 and $1,500 at dealership prices. If you have headers, price will be somewhat higher. The torque tube design might be great for performance, but it's a real pain in the wallet when it comes time to replace a $100 item like the slave cylinder/throwout bearing. Or even worse of an insult if the $10 pilot bearing goes out and you have to suck up that labor charge to replace it.

Yeah, I haven't quite convinced myself that I would want to do this job myself, and I've got a commercial lift in the garage to help out. Doing it on the floor of a garage with jack stands? No way! I've watched videos of guys doing it that way, but they were a lot younger and stronger than I am.

And I know what you mean about the back. This old age crap is for the birds.

The slave cylinder of today is a bit different from the old ones. The old ones just applied pressure to the clutch fork when acuated. The new ones take the place of the clutch fork. It installs on the transmission shaft and when actuated, moves the pressure plate away from the flywheel. Which means to replace it, is as much labor as installing a new clutch.

Daummmmmm!

Yeah, now you can see why I was so hesitant about just pulling the drivetrain apart to see what was making noises in my C5Z.

Think about any drivetrain mods you might have been toying around with doing ANYTIME in the future. NOW will be the time to do them.

Here's a video of some guys replacing the clutch with the car sitting in their driveway if you want to get an idea of what all is involved -> http://www.myspace.com/video/wraith/...labor/53963956

Someone did a DIY howto with some photos -> http://home.comcast.net/~dopemaro/C5...ch_install.pdf

As I said, not my cup of tea laying on my back underneath the car just on jackstands. :nonod:

You also may want to consider replacing the rear main seal while you're that far into it.

I guess with these cars of ours, the days of getting some friends over to help with a clutch or engine pull, and paying them with beer, are behind us.

Hey Ken,

Are you sure it is the slave cylinder? The reason I ask is that I just went through this with my '01 convertible. We are the original owners and it only has 28k miles on it. My clutch pedal started getting a funny feel to it and it would grab just off the floor. It grabbed so soon that the clutch pedal return spring would not work leaving the pedal close to the floor. I was having to put my toes under the pedal and lifting up to get the pedal to it's normal location. What a PITA in traffic!

I immediately assumed that it was the clutch slave cylinder that was the problem and started the holy crap thought process about what it would cost to have it replaced. I too am past the days of laying under a car and bench pressing anything up into place, so I knew it was going back to our local dealer.

I made an appointment and dropped it off figuring the worst. I got a call from the service manager and he told me that it was my clutch master cylinder and not the slave cylinder. Much cheaper repair. Since the clutch system is hydraulic, a bad master cylinder will give you the same symptoms as a bad slave cylinder. If either one will not hold pressure it will affect the clutch operation the same way. Estero Bay Chevrolet is our club sponsor, so they discount both parts and labor for club members. The clutch master cylinder list price was $205.45, I paid $152.95, and the labor was $297.00 list and I paid $267.30. They cut their labor for us by 10%, but we get a big break on parts. BTW, I just had this repair done in January.

So, if you are as lucky as I was, the damage might not be as bad as you may think. Cross your fingers and hope it is the master cylinder and not the slave cylinder.

Good luck!

Rich

Several years back I helped a friend replace his clutch in a 98 vette (in his driveway). After we were done I knew it would be my first and last time. Two years ago I paid to have a LS7 clutch installed in my C5Z :)
Ken I bought the rubber torque tube bushings and did not use them. If you are going to be in need of them let me know. You can have them for a cold beer....Good luck......