Hi there,

Seems like the clutch hydraulic line is slowly leaking (I had been told about it by a dealer in June, but I could not find any evidence myself so I kept my eye on it and this morning I found a few drops of brake fluid on the floor)

So, has anyone replaced the hydraulic line (the # 5)?




Are there any tricks I should be aware of? I could not find the manual for the line replacement in the JTIS. Looks like it should be easy... but you never know.

Cheers!

 

I've been looking at these lines all freaking morning. Isn't the line aluminum? Not saying it's impossible to have a fracture hair line break in the hose due to hydraulic pressure but I've never seen it before.

My guess is the connection on the other side of the clutch slave cylinder because if you are seeing break fluid on that line based on the rules of gravity that's the highest side on the line and should drip to the lowest side of that line.

Maybe it just need some new threading sealant but if it's the line you have a crack in you don't need me to tell you it's gonna cost $$$. I'm curious to know what the problem is so I will checking to see what others come up with on the forum.

 

The line is aluminum (or whatever metal) and frankly speaking I tried to locate the leak myself this morning but again I found nothing. I don't see the whole line but as far as I could reach - every single inch is dry and sound.

We'll keep my eye on it for some more time to be sure if it progresses or not.

If I can do it myself, that should not be that bad, since I found an OEM line for ~ $100

 

I checked out my cable again. My line #5 consist of about 3 pieces. Only problem I see is trying to keep air bubbles from master cylinder brake lines but even if master cylinder reservoir gets really low it shouldn't affect brake line.... hehehe but don't quote me. This is what mines look like.

I took 3 pictures of clutch slave master cylinder.






Than my cable goes here. It travels straight then bends to the right where it makes a loop.





From here it travels under battery and loops around going under fuse box and some type of brackets where it makes one more connection before going into the master cylinder. The cable even changes, I don't know if it's aluminum wrapped in some type of rubber casing or if its and actual reinforced rubber line. All portions of cables easy to get to except the one going into master cylinder.

So you have several pieces of line #5 to try out and about 5 points at which it can leak from those interconnections if it's anything like my car.

 

Here is the full Diagram from another post.

 

Yesterday spent an hour looking for a leak. Could not find it. According to the diagram there are only two lines and both of them look fine.

 

If you are seeing drips on the floor then you have the best evidence as to where to look. What I do is clean the floor well and park the car. Next day I check it without moving the car. If I have a drip I jack the car up and have a look.

Unless something has been done to the lines it is unlikely that they would just start to leak. More often it is the master or slave cylinder. The master cylinder generally leaks inside onto the carpet. That leaves the slave cylinder which will leak into the clutch housing and drip out the bottom. This is where the above test is helpful.

The rubber line is a high pressure steel armored hose. They can leak but are generally pretty good these days. Another possibility is that a line may be rubbing on something so as to wear a hole in its side. I had that on my X-type but on an A/C line.

Pete.