Hey guys,

so i'm driving down the road the other day doing just fine, and suddenly i noticed that when i pushed the clutch in to shift, it wouldn't push back like normal, and as i went it eventually just went to the floor and stayed there. after monkeying around trying to get it into gear, i finally did, and as i tried to drive it home, the pressure came and went. sometimes it felt normal, i could shift just fine. other times i pushed it in and it just stayed there.

i've looked all around the master cylinder, and there's no sign of a leak anywhere there. so i though it could be a leak in the hydraulic line somewhere. i traced it down to the clutch release cylinder mounted on the tranny, and the dust covers were soaked. i just finished putting a new front oil seal in a month ago due to a huge leak, and i haven't gotten around to washing all the old oil off yet, so everything down there is still covered in oil, and the motor still leaks a little bit from somewhere else, not sure where at the moment. so i'm not totally sure if the release cylinder is leaking, or if it's oil blown back from the engine while driving.

does this problem even sound like a leak somewhere or is it more serioius than that (i.e. master cylinder going out...)? the thing that puzzles me is that the reservoir of clutch fluid hasn't really gone down much. maybe a little bit, but it's still above the min. line. any ideas where to check from here, or what the problem might be?

thanks for the help,

hutch

Did you bleed the clutch line after reinstalling it from the rear seal job?

i didn't touch the clutch line...i replaced the front oil seal, not the rear one.

A bad master cylinder lets air in, and does not leak fluid out - on my Saab anyway.

Have you tried to bleed the system to look for any air?

Definitely try bleeding the clutch system. I recently changed to synthetic fluid (brakes and clutch) and replaced the master cylinder and had to do this. Have you checked the fluid level in the reservoir?

How do you bleed A clutch?

Pretty much like you do brakes. On a 2.6L SWB, there is a bleeder valve on the fitting where the clutch line attached to the tranny. Just above the line, IIRC. (This would only apply to hydraulic clutches, of course. I think the p/ups are cabled?)