Clutch slave cylinder

[S6 Devil]

I have a leaky slave cylinder. Having spoken to Str8six, the advice from Jason is:

If the one I have is black or the Raceproved slave, change the seals. If silver then throw away and replace. Keep the front seal only, on the RP slave, but if the black slave then replace both seals.

Straightforward, but do I need to change the Clutch release/thrust bearing as a matter of course?

Anything I need to be wary of when doing this job?

The search function isn't working properly otherwise I would search it!

Thanks

[nawarne]

Oooh, tricky one!!

I'd say if you're going to the bother of dropping the 'box to get at the slave cylinder, you might just as well replace the release bearing...others will say if the bearing spins without noise or roughness, then it should be fine.

I'd also look at the clutch fingers and butterfly springs...but where do you stop??
Nick

[S6 Devil]

For the sake of £18, I think I will change the release bearing.

My mechanic is only charging £100-150 to drop and refit the box. The clutch seems fine but I will check it anyway.

[anonymous-user]

Has your mechanic done it before ?
I think it is a big job , many hours, you may have a bargin?

I went under my car today to see what would need to come off, it really is quite a big job

[S6 Devil]

cliffords said:

Has your mechanic done it before ?
I think it is a big job , many hours, you may have a bargin?

I went under my car today to see what would need to come off, it really is quite a big job

Not on a Tuscan! When I discussed it with him he seemed to know what he was talking about. He has done extensive work on the Jag rear axle and diff with no problems, and sticks to his quotes. Happy days...I hope!

[ratboiler]

Mine is weeping and might needs to be replaced,am keeping an eye on it, so will be interested to see how your man gets on, and if he would do another, estimate 400+ to deal with it.

[anonymous-user]

How this this go in the end , has it been done ?

[S6 Devil]

When we got it up on the ramp to inspect it, there was no weep from the slave. It seems that it was the Gearbox tailshaft oil seal. They dropped the driveshaft without removing the exhaust and changed the seal in an hour.
I'm sure if you wanted your slave doing, the guys would be happy to do it at a very sensible price. Speak to Olly on 01903 700550

[S6 Devil]

Bl**dy car! Spots of clutch fluid on the garage floor this morning...back to the mechanic and the slave is weeping. I will update how the work goes when it's done!

[MC12]

My Tuscan has the same issue and i've been advised to change the clutch at the same time to keep the labour costs down. the car has done 31500 miles and it doesn't look like it's ever had a clutch so would people recommend i do the clutch at the same time? Cost for both fitted is about £1200.

[Konrod]

Bit of a no brainer really. Once you'be got the the clutch slave, there is almost no more work to do to change the clutch itself. - the additional cost will be the parts. Clutches in these don't last forever, so in effect you're saving yourself the cost of labour a second time.

Of course, it does depend if you have the cash to buy the parts which aren't cheap.

[nawarne]

Agree with Konrod,

Clutch assembly is ca: £600, the best mileage I've seen from one is around 34,000 mls, so to save 3-4 hours labour in maybe 5K miles, then I'd get the lot done at the same time.
Nick

[S6 Devil]

I can't decide what to do. There are only a few spots dripping. I have a warranty which would cover this if it fails. At the moment I have no problems with gear changes or heavy clutch.

Would you change the slave and inspect the clutch OR change the slave and the clutch as a matter of course OR leave it to fail and claim on the warranty?

[Toady1]

cliffords said:

Has your mechanic done it before ?
I think it is a big job , many hours, you may have a bargin?

Its actually not that big a job. I stripped down my mates on my drive and he gave me a hand putting it all back again.

[S6 Devil]

S6 Devil said:

I can't decide what to do. There are only a few spots dripping. I have a warranty which would cover this if it fails. At the moment I have no problems with gear changes or heavy clutch.

Would you change the slave and inspect the clutch OR change the slave and the clutch as a matter of course OR leave it to fail and claim on the warranty?

Any thoughts?

[Basil Brush]

How many miles on the clutch?

When my slave went first time, it went from a drip to a failure in about a week of daily light use.

[S6 Devil]

Basil Brush said:

How many miles on the clutch?

When my slave went first time, it went from a drip to a failure in about a week of daily light use.

Not sure. It had had a new clutch before I bought it but had only done 13000 miles. I have done another 10000 miles so probably 10-15000 miles on this one.

[Basil Brush]

How many miles do you do? If you work on 20-25k miles being the life expectancy for the earlier AP clutch packs, then potentially you've got c.5-10k miles left in it.

I'd be tempted to use the car, let the slave fail and then get the warranty to cover replacement. Get whichever garage you use to replace the whole thing at the same time so you only end up paying for the new clutch pack.

[S6 Devil]

Basil Brush said:

How many miles do you do? If you work on 20-25k miles being the life expectancy for the earlier AP clutch packs, then potentially you've got c.5-10k miles left in it.

I'd be tempted to use the car, let the slave fail and then get the warranty to cover replacement. Get whichever garage you use to replace the whole thing at the same time so you only end up paying for the new clutch pack.

Only about 3000 miles a year.
The obsessive in me wants to get it done, but It seems daft to pay to have the slave changed, if a warranty company will pay when it fails. Makes sense just to enjoy it and get it done by them when needed. Again same with the clutch as they will cover this separately including labour when it goes.

When the slave fails, does it contaminate the clutch, to such an extent that it needs changing?

[Basil Brush]

S6 Devil said:

When the slave fails, does it contaminate the clutch, to such an extent that it needs changing?

Mine didn't. The fingers failing on the clutch pack 12 months later did lead to the new slave being damaged though as it went through the ends of the fingers and scored the piston.