Well I guess it was time. Was taking my girl friend home and noticed I was having more clutch issues than normal, been an off and on issue for about 6 weeks. Anyway pull into my girl friends neighborhood, dropping from 4th and attempted to go into 2nd and nope. Pedal has 0 pressure and will not go into gear. I checked fluid level and it looks like about a quarter thickness of fluid, pardon this odd tool of measurement, has gone missing. Car will be towed to the dealer tomorrow morning.

Interesting thing though, the car was at the dealer probably three weeks ago and I mentioned how my clutch fluid was below the min line and I had topped it off, and mentioned the clutch issues. This was mainly because I wanted to get something down on paper, my previous experience with dealers has been if its not currently broken we wont fix it. News came back that the tech couldn't find a leak and all appeared to be normal. They did however notice my RJM clutch pedal . I guess when I picked up the car in late July the dealer HAD topped off the clutch fluid, and driving for 3 months the fluid had dropped below the min line.

Kinda torn between going with an aftermarket CSC or sticking with OEM. Other threads seem to point to, how long are you keeping the car? Well I'm not sure. Needs to last me at least 4 years. Do I go with Z1's CSC, Zspeed, any others? Then do I go ahead and upgrade the clutch? I mean, while you're there. I have a feeling thats going to hurt my wallet haha.


Could there be fluid leaking on to the clutch plate or something? It may be in my head but I swear I was having some mild clutch slippage before I got to my girl friends house.


Thanks guys,

Austin

 

How many miles does the car have and could you admit to ever severely cooking the clutch to the point it stunk up your interior?

 

48,7XX and no I have never smelled the clutch.

 

This has me worried as I'm approaching 32,xxx miles. If you're keeping the car for 4 years, I'd go with the aftermarket CSC from what people have to say about the OEM CSC. Buy once, cry once.

 

Your clutch most likely has PLENTY of life then.

I wouldnt bother replacing it. Just replace the slave cylinder with the Z1 HD and you should be good to go. Stainless steel clutch line would be a nice mod too.

 

I wasn't too worried about the clutch failing, more of a while you're there. I also thought that when the slave cylinder goes, they replace the flywheel?

 

You should go aftermarket for the csc. Then you wont have to worry about it going out again after your warranty is up.

 

I'm leaning towards aftermarket, not sure if they will install it and cover the install under warranty though.

So what is the difference between the z1 and the zspeed? Looks like zspeed is still a slave cylinder, while the z1 completely removes the need for a slave cylinder?

 

please listen to what I'm about to tell you. I've been through dropping my transmission 6 times and 2500 dollars later and a external slave. but the stock slaves go bad because you use a pressure plate that's has to much clamping force over the stock pressure plate. if you wanna use a aftermarket kit with a higher clamping force pressure plate. use the heavy duty csc. that is what I'm using. don't use stock csc on an aftermarket kit. you will break I every time. BELIEVE ME. Stock slaves are junk and higher clamping force pressure plates break them . use oem pressure plate and heavy duty csc and you'll never have problem. and also change your master. You'll be good to go.
I've broke 3 csc's and had the external slave and that broke because wasn't installed correctly.
sorry for the huge paragraph lol

 

Well damn! This really isn't something I want to do with ever again. I still haven't heard back on the official diagnosis. Will keep y'all posted. I'm not even sure if the dealer will let me install an aftermarket part, and still have extended warranty cover labor. Hopefully it can be an under the table thing if need be!

 

Manual recommends to also change master cylinder if you change the CSC.
FYI only.

 

Got the call back, and of course it is the slave cylinder. They will be replacing the mast as well as the hose and a fluid flush. I assume they will be putting in the GTR brake fluid, I'll have to check and make sure. Looks like they will install a provided part.

SO! What do I choose, the Zspeed or Z1?

 

I'd like to know too. I'm in the same market.
I like the Southbend clutch packages that include the Zspeed HD (Heavy Duty) CSC (it's on the Zspeed website of course).

 

Well I thought things were going great, I received this email from my adviser today.

"I did need to talk to you about the difference in labor to replace the master cylinder (which they are covering) and the labor for the slave cylinder since those are two totally separate areas of the vehicle."

I have read where if you supply the part its just a swap out and the warranty covers the labor still. Any advise on how to handle this? If I have to pay any labor, I'm just going to go with the stock CSC to avoid any more expenses.

*EDIT*

Just spoke to him and since the hose caused the failure and hose debris is what ruined the CSC and master, none of this would be covered. Looks like I'll be paying for labor :/ for the CSC which is about 4 hours. Luckily the adviser is doing everything he can and is going to help me with the price of labor.

 

I'd recommend getting the Zspeed HD CSC. I've had mine for 3 years and 60k km. Installing it now will save you from paying for labour in the future should another OEM slave fail outside your warranty period.