After a season of track days and now 22k miles on my car i'm probably long overdue to replace the clutch fluid. I've been delaying this as long as possible because I know what a chore changing it can be. I have heard people come up with all sorts of storys like "I have skinny arms and I was able to get my hand up there and bleed it". I can't see how this is possible and I believe C4C5TECH has confirmed many times the procedure involves dropping the H pipe to the exhaust and taking the long metal plate above it off.

While driving on the street I downshifted from a higher then usual RPM and then pushed the clutch in to pull into my driveway. After letting the clutch out to creep up the driway I noticed it released much sooner then usual.......about the first 3 inches of pedal travel from off the floor. I then put the car in neutral and pushed the cluth in again and the pedal stuck to the floor and I had to pry my foot underneath it to pop it back out. I popped the hood and opened the clutch fluid resevior and saw the fluid was black.....and I do mean BLACK.

With the throwout bearing much different from conventional design am I to assume this color came from boiling the fluid rather then any potential breakdown of componants into the fluid?

Does just replacing the fluid with some good Castrol SRF stand a good chance of eliminating this problem in the near future or should I look into a clutch puchase? :)

Finally........any good pages required to help me tactle the clutch fluid bleeding process other then the nice writeup on 97vette.com?

Thanks,
Aaron Lephart

 

Mine is exactly the same way. The dealer said not to worry about it. Looks like the fluid is deteriorating the rubber in the system. I'd like to know what eveyone thinks of this also. Is it a problem?

 

IMO, you should be changing the fluid in the Clutch and Brake system every year. Feel free to do what you think is right for you...

VR :cheers:

 

I changed to Castrol SRF last year and have been very happy with it.!
JB

 

I flush mine once a year and replace whats in the reservoir every month or two. The "how to" on 97 vette is about the only way you can do it.

 

I had a similiar series of events. I sucked out the clutch master and changed the black fluid (only 3k miles) and it did not help the sticking clutch. After the first time it stuck, each time I redlined thru first and second it would be soft going to third. Worse when hot. This was with a 02 Z clutch and slave with 3k.
There is a TSB on this. I got a clutch job from the dealer and used a Cartek which has ajustable master and slave with DOT 5 fluid. So far so good. Dave @ Cartek said it was a combination of components that get hot when the clutch slips??

 

For a temporary fix. Take a turkey baster and suck all the fluid out of the clutch master then refill it with new fluid. That mash the clutch about 20 times then repeat everything again about 4-5 times. It will clean your fluid up alot without having to bleed it.

I learned this trick from Nasty C5. On my 99 my pedal was sticking at the drags after doing this never happend again

 

:iagree: I siphon mine out once every 2 weeks and refill. It seems there is a compatibility problem with the rubber anti-surge bladder in the reservoir. :confused:

 

The BLACK fluid is caused by the carbon black used to dye the rubber bladder.The GM clutch fluid is designed to keep the plunger from squeaking in the resevoir.Some brake fluids will cause the squeak and somewill not.Clutch(any) will work better if exhaust is wrapped with insulation in the area of clutch hose.

 

:iagree: