Clutch master cyclinder : gunk

[cypermethrin]

My '97 300 TDI Defender started weaping from the clutch master cyclinder into the foot well - so naturally wanted to replace it with OEM 

The new cyclinder is fitted and surprisingly I have most of the skin on my knuckles too; the old cyclinder had alot of black gunk at the bottom of the reservoir which I presume is from the degradation of the seals and the fluid was a muddy dark color.

So my question - given the state of the fluid I was going to drain out all the old fluid from the slave and refil with fresh. Is there anything else I can or should do to remove any additional gunk ?

 

thanks in advance

[neil110]

It might be worth your while to replace the slave cylinder at the same time. Then, use an eezibleed to fill it up, takes a couple of minutes and you can do it on your own, has the added benefit of (if you want to) flushing lots of fluid through the system

[simonb]

Agree, change the slave at the same time, the gunk is rubber from the seals. The increased efficiency of the new master will probably make the slave leak soon. When removing the slave, very gently ease it away from the bell housing just enough to get a set of pliers in to hold the push rod. Then with the pushrod held stationary, remove the slave completely. This saves the pushrod retaining clip coming out of the release arm. If it does, its nigh on impossible to get back in - but will work without it.

To make bleeding the slave easy, bolt a piece of bar/wood across the push rod end to hold in the piston. Let it dangle on the hose, bleed nipple will now be vertical and bleed. Remove retainer and refit to bell housing.

 

You will also need to reset the free play of the master pushrod on the pedal pivot. Its been covered on here loads of times and no doubt if you need help, someone will post the clicky linky for you.

[cypermethrin]

Thanks for the advice - ended up changing both master and slave and all is now well.