April 2004 my slave went bad. Upon replacing it I decided to do the master as well. Not a bad job everything went OK.

July 2004 5k miles later slave is leaking again, under GM warranty I get a new slave and install it, all is well.

December 2004 4K miles later slave is leaking again, again I get a replacement under warranty, install it all is well.

April 2005 1K later more slave leakage. I do some research and a GM zone rep I met at Kerbecks tells me the vendor making these replacement slaves had not been keeping the correct tolerances and they have had most fail and come back for warranty replacement. Mr. Zone Rep says GM has a new vendor and the failure issues should be resolved. Says all old vendor slaves have been removed from stock. The dealer I got the previous ones from refuses to warranty it for me. I am forced to BUY one. I verify with Mr. Zone Rep that the new one I have is from the new vendor. I had also looked for a non GM replacement, Auto Zone lists one but permanently out of stock. DRM has one but it is really a modified GM one and they had the failure problems and weren't selling them at the time. I install #4 that I had to buy and a new line between the master and slave and all is well again.

Sunday I'm out for a cruise and I notice that feeling I have come to know to well with the clutch pedal. I get home the master reservoir is empty, under the car at the usual spot is leakage. This one (#4) was sourced from a different vendor. I called him today and he is checking to see what the warranty time is. I'll find out tomorrow if I get a replacement or have to buy another. At least I can now install it in my sleep!

WTF is up with these slaves?

 

Unf'n believable! There has to be a way to rebuild these, as one would a wheel cyl??
Sorry to hear about that.

 

I ordered a new master and slave online a couple of days ago. I hope I have better luck.

Thanks for the info and keep it coming.

Rat

 

Just found out it's under warranty I guess!

 

Mine was a DRM modified GM one and started leaking after a year. I didn't notice any difference in how it shifted and it cost twice what one cost from Rock Auto. I find it funny that there are numerous threads about the GM ones being junk and people replacing it more than once. Why is it that nobody has said the Raybestos and Wagner replacements are junk? Is it because nobody has ever used one? I gave up on the GM ones and bought a Raybestos for $80 and it should be here this week. Corvette fever did and article on replacing the master and the slave and they used Wagner instead of GM.

 

Rex, what's the old GM part number, and the new one (new vendor)?

I have my p/n's at home, I've gone thru 2 slave cylinders in the past
8 months.

 

Same part numbers

 

I bought a new raybestos unit off rockauto.com

What good is a lifetime replacement warranty if you have to replace it for a lifetime?

 

Central coaster, that my friend, is the quote of the month. Awesome

 

my slave cylinder leaks... but it isn't annoying... so I know this leak, I have embraced and accepted this leak.

 

How long and how many miles do you have on the Raybestos unit?
agreed......great quote

I will only get worse and one day when you are driving the master will run dry and you'll have no clutch.

I pulled #4 and it was leaking from the front, I'll post a pic later. Picked up #5 warranty replacement. Maybe I'll get a Raybestos?

Would you install #5 AC Delco or get a Raybestos?

 

After the 4th slave in 2 years I replaced the GM with a raybestos.(October 2005).

Still OK

 

I had my clutch master cylinder go out on me last fall. Replaced with one from Corvette Central. All is well. Over this winter, I purchased a slave cylinder off ebay (carquest part) with the intent of replacing it this spring.

My question on this line of topic is should I just wait until the slave gives up, or should I go ahead and replace as preventative maintenance? The car has 154k on it. I'm afraid of changing out a working one for one that may fail in 3-4k. These failure rates are alarming.

 

Just think what a pain it would be if you didn't have that big garage with the lift!

I got a new master and slave last spring/summer and the system is filled with the GM fluid instead of brake fluid. We'll see if the fluid makes any difference.

 

I've only had my car a few months and knew that the slave was leaking slightly when I got it. I'm pretty sure the previous owner knew too although he didn't mention it up front (nothing like getting the car on a lift before buying it,) as the master cap was really easy to get off to check the fluid. I'm pretty sure he was refilling with DOT 3.

I picked up some of the GM fluid and will use that and see how things go with the new master and slave. Surprisingly, only one dealer in my area (north Atlanta burbs) had the fluid in stock.

Rat

 

Anyone have a PN on the fluid?

 

I use Valvoline Synpower Brake Fluid. Works GREAT!!!

And I check mine on a regular basis. It's been leaking like this for nearly 4 years now... I ain't messing with it.

 

Yup.

12345347.

If they don't have it in stock it will be overnighted. But that's two trips, one to pay, one to pick it up.

It has an awful lot of organic compounds listed as additives.

 

hmmmmm.... organic compounds in something as voilatile as brake fluid

 

What the heck do you think all hydraulic fluid is made from??? It's all organic.

Otherwise, your inorganic choices are water and liquid mercury as fluids.