hahuang65

Even if I'm not pushing on the clutch? I was bleeding the clutch, it felt like something popped...we stopped pressing the clutch and if I opened the bleed screw everything drain in real quick. Left it alone and it drained half the fluid reservoir in about an hour.

I'm not a mechanic, so I'd defer to you normally... However this experience has made me want to err on the side of caution. My current slave cylinder has no visible issues, but is slowly leaking. While it was in the transmission, it was leaking quite a bit more quickly. That makes me feel like I haven't found the real issue yet, as well as suspicious of parts being busted even if new. Perhaps I'll just fill the new unit and see if anything seeps as a smell test...

Yeah I'm waiting for some new parts. What do you mean by clamp it so it can't extend?

Safe to assume if I just have the slave cylinder unmounted, I can just connect it to the master cylinder to pressure test? Or does it have to be mounted to the bellhousing?

@7Westfield DOT4. Never hurts to double check

So it looks like the slave is indeed leaking or seeping. I took out both the bleed line and the clutch line...filled both sides with fluid... No leaks from compression...left it on a clean paper towel and an hour later, there's a small puddle on the paper towel...also see it on the lower lip of the cylinder. Also one of the videos shows that filling the line and then loosening the cylinder from the bellhousing for some reason made it leak also. But strange there

Yeah that makes sense. I assume Beachman gets them in from Caterham and has shipping and tariff costs factored in etc

More photos and vid from today https://photos.app.goo.gl/TrU2pvdg1K1JM4Mz7 When the slave was bolted in fully, I added some fluid...no leaks. I loosened the bolts...leaks from below. I took out the slave cylinder,and wiped it down. And topped it off... No leaks. Compressed it...still no leaks. I've left it on a clean paper towel to see if it seeps. But it's strange because when it was leaking,it was flowing quite quickly...not just seepage. Any one have ideas what else I should test?

@MV8 I need to do more testing. Thanks for the suggestions. I will probably try what you're saying, but I'm also awaiting my dealer's guidance since this is will be a warranty issue. I had a flare nut wrench but it didn't fit around the fitting. I've also found https://www.beachmanracing.com/clutch-slave-cylinder-and-bearing-duratecsigma and https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dorman-CS360062-Clutch-Slave-Cylinder-For-95-07-Contour-Cougar-Mondeo-Mystique-Fits-select-1995-2000-FORD-CONTOUR-1995-2000-MERCURY-MYSTIQUE/538630283 Given the huge range of pricing, I'm a little suspect about the quality of the Walmart piece... though it claims to be the same item as the one you posted.

I wonder if I suffered the same issue as As described by @MV8.

So I pulled the engine and transmission tonight and opened it up. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is the issue, but it appears that the slave failed? Also the slave wasn't fully tightened to the bellhousing. See attached videos. The photos where I point is where there is residual brake fluid, they appear to be around the slave, but also at the fittings on top of the slave, so I guess it's possible it's from that. I'm awaiting my dealer to give me further instructions on testing/diagnosing, but would love to hear what other people think as well. Also, if there's a place that these slave cylinders are available to purchase, it would be nice to have that info in the back pocket as well. Thanks! @EdWills as requested, here are the photos and videos. https://photos.app.goo.gl/XMQUmy3QQfmccsyx5

Thought about this a bit more and I'm not sure this is possible. There's a crossbar almost right where the bellhousing joins the transmission that makes it impossible to drop through. Also, (at least in my case) the transmission tunnel is V shaped if you look at it straight from the nose of the car. The bottom is not wide enough for the transmission to drop through regardless. This is why when I installed the engine, I had to make sure the transmission didn't go lower than the floor of the car, cuz you just cannot tilt it back up.

@CarlB thanks for the info. I re-attached the propshaft to the diff last night. I did remember to loctite the bolts. I also drained the transmission. I figure it's easier to just re-fill it since I'm pulling it anyways,rather than deal with a bigger mess when pulling it out.

Understood. This may end up being an easier way to work on the engine and trans, but I certainly don't have the equipment for it. You're right that one would still need to figure out how to get the driveway yoke out. May end up needing to pull the diff in order to do so. Or lift the engine a bit anyway.

For my car, this job ended up being trivial. Undo the clamp that joins the top column and the lower column. Pull out top column. Mark alignment of lower column to universal joint. Undo lower column from universal joint Pull lower column out

@wemtd thanks for the pointers. Pretty much doing this now. I've just drained the tranny fluid since I'm pulling the transmission anyways. Makes it a bit less messy when pulling.

@CBuff lol is it actually possible to loosen and fill while the transmission is mounted??

I have no idea why it didn't occur to me that there's a drain plug for the transmission. Maybe because there wasn't one for the coolant in the radiator... This makes it so much easier than worrying about it leaking from the propshaft join. I'm just gonna drain it from here into a catch can and then re-fill it when I'm ready.

Thank you! I probably won't take the time-lapse camera down, but I can take some video and photo with my phone. I promise to update you guys here at least

Do you have a quote? When I did it a month ago I got quoted $2k a year

@Nocturnal005 mine is similar. in Houston Texas area

I am aware...my drain pan didn't fit under the dry sump due to the jack stands...I used a funnel to get it to the drain pan...the funnel tipped on me when I wasn't paying attention. That was sucky.

How do I do this? I'm guessing right when the propshaft pops, have a pan under? I've got a drain plug, I can probably also just plug it at this point?

Assuming this implies when pulling the engine, it'll just slip out when I inch it away?

@toldfield thanks for your time. I might have to remove at least some of the bolts of the diff to tilt it.