Folks,

Would appreciate if somebody could throw me a bone on this.

Symptoms :

• Pentosin puddle underneath driver side front wheel well
• Clutch pedal went soft during ride, could hardly get it in gear
• Drove home, refilled front Pentosin reservoir which was at the minimum level
• Took it out again, cannot replicate issue. No more leak nor soft pedal

Checks performed :

• Went under dashboad and checked the clutch cylinder master. No leaks, dry as can be.
• Pulled liner on wheel well. Hydraulic lines intact, no leaking (see picture)
• Checked the Pentosin reservoir upfront. It was kind of sticky. The lid does not close tightly anymore, when I tighten it too much it just snaps and and loosens up again (see picture).

Questions

• I guess I do not need to worry about slave and accumulator, correct ?
• The fact that clutch went soft, could there still be an issue with the master cy
  
  Pentosin reservoir
  
  Front wheel well
  linder, despite the fact it was dry ?
• What about the front Pentosin reservoir. Could the eroded cap/lid be the cause of my issue ?

Thank you in advance for your advice !

 

Clutch slave failing causing pentosin to migrate up and out the master from the frunk. given they are "connected" parts, if one is failing the other is usually involved as well. check both. slave and accumulator.

 

If there was a leak - you should be able to identify the trail and follow back to the source. Don't stop until you do. At "minimum" is still OK - unless, of course, it's leaking out. The lid should be tight, but should not be expected to hold "pressure". The lid is just there to stop the fluid from spilling over. If the reservoir is getting pressurized from the master and squirting out fluid, there is a problem.

I wouldn't start thinking about replacing the slave (or anything else) until you figure out where the puddle came from.

 

fair enough slider. but "pentosin puddles" never stop on their own something's messed up. my money is on the slave. barring signs of a failing accumulator, of course.

 

Time for the GT2 fix !

 

or. just source the leak. replace whatever is needed ( if anything ) and jumper the clutch switch at the pedals that requires the clutch engagement pre-startup.

if you do? you'll *never* have accumulator or accompanying slave issues again. at least ones due to the "pre start" pressure on the accumulator of the hydraulically assisted system. this is what has caused your issue. dollars to doughnuts.

or invest the time money and labor to convert, to a non assisted gt2 setup. as you say.

 

I agree - the drip won't stop on its own, but the master is supposed to stop any back pressure from the slave - so, if the leak is at the driver's side, the problem must be related to the master and not the slave. Having said that, if the master is toast, I also agree the slave should be replaced too. I went GT2 slave long ago, so these things don't happen any more.

 

Slave cylinder is failing. Like others have said, convert it to the GT2 style clutch and those problems will go away.

 

Not everyone goes the gt2 conversion route. I went with new 996tt slave/accumulator and thereby retained the stock assisted setup. It's just fine. I like the super light clutch pedal.

 

agree. my experience has always been. fluid migration OUT of the master is precipitated by a failing slave. not the master itself. coupled with the usual culprit being a failed accumulator. i've actually had leakage from the master that caused leakage inside the cabin, under the dash.

no doubt gt2 conversion is for most, *best*. but all i ever had to do to eliminate ANY inconsistency in the clutch action was to "jump" the two leads that require engaging the clutch to start the car. years ago, never one issue since with engagement or failing ( accumulator ) parts. that took two minutes, and zero dollars.

 

What about the BBI slave cylinder as an opton to cure the problem? Any experience?

 

what is the problem? disconnect the stupid switch at the pedals. the bbi "fix" is another unnecessary and NON oem "fix".

 

I'd like to learn more about the switch bypass. Based on what OP posted and your comments regarding fluid migration, I assume that is due to the slave cylinder seal failing so that penstosin is transferred from the "pressure" side (power steering) of the oem slave cylinder to the "non-pressurized" side (clutch master cylinder) and then pushed out the clutch fluid reservoir. The only ways to fix that are replacing the oem slave cylinder (and accumulator), the GT2 slave/master cylinder swap or after market slave replacement (BBI or others).

The idea of "bypassing" the clutch/starter switch would seem to address the "hard pedal" at startup associated with a failing accumulator by not requiring the clutch pedal to be depressed. Hence, when the engine started the normal clutch action would be restored as pressure in system builds. I can see how this overcomes the hard pedal complaint but unclear as to how this would address the fluid migration or clutch engagement points that others have complained about when slave cylinder is leaking/failing.

I'm very interested in possibe solutions since I'm starting to also experience some fluid migration and inconsistent engagement points.

 

The stock clutch setups are a bummer deal on these cars. They all go bad at 40-50k miles. I did the GT2 setup. It is heavy but I do prefer it over the stock setup. My car is more of a racing type though.

 

@lflouie i've spent 10 minutes trying to link the pic of the clutch switch jumper location at the pedals without luck. they changed how to post pics for some unknown reason. stupidly.

8 ball says try again later lol

add: once you jumper the switch, you'll no longer have failing accumulator and/or slave issues OR engagement point issues. assuming all internal clutch components are within "proper" spec.