Thanks for the great info as usual Paul.

 

Nope just a C6 manual transmission thing from what I understand. I've never had to deal with it on any other manual I've owned. When I mentioned it being "normal", I was really just referring to C6's w manual trans.

 

This is exactly what I do.

The first time I checked (inspired by reading related posts here) my car was 2 y.o. and had about 6K miles on it. The fluid looked horrible. I did the Ranger method (including chaging / pumping the pedal, changing again, until clear).

Now that it's clear, I simply change it out once before I drive it. I don't sit there and pump the pedal. I just change it once, drive the car, and repeat every couple of months. It stays clean.

 

and some day you may get to learn what "steels & fibers" are

 

Well by looking at your avatar, it looks like you put up with it too

 

Shop said it would be $525 to track inspect the car, change oil, and, oh by the way, change the clutch fluid. Ouch!

 

Hey everyone-I recently purchased an 05 c6 and before I even got to drive it the DAS transport driver added ATF to my clutch reservoir. Ruined everything and now I have a 2100 dollar bill that I will have to pay and then get back from DAS. The dealer is changing all lines,slave, seals, and I am assuming reservoir. I spoke to the shop mgr about doing the Ranger Method once in awhile and was told not to do so. Asked about putting in a remote bleeder and was told it wasn't neccessary unless I was autox or abuse the car often. He said anytime you take off the cap and remove fluid air might get in the system. Not it would but its possible.He said to just do a visual inspection. My question to you is since everything is being changed out should I be good to go for at leas the next year or so? I know very little about the C6 and dont want to screw up. Just want to enjoy my ride and take care of it correctly. Seems like you can get a lot of different answers on CF.Thx for your input. Don

 

Don't go back and argue with him...nothing to gain there...BUT...there is absolutely no way you can get air into the system by opening the cap. Simple way to do it once you get the car back is to just watch the color of the fluid in the reservoir. Honey color is fine but if it gets darker, get a bottle of Prestone DOT4 brake fluid at Walmart and do the Ranger. Because I drive my car regularly, I do not pump the clutch repeatedly in the garage; I just change it and then drive it. If you are going to drive it, then just do Ranger before you go. No extra wear from pumping the pedal needlessly.
Let's face it, the reason all this happened was that the previous owner let the fluid go low and (I'm guessing) dark also. If the fluid had been full, the idiot transport driver never would have put the ATF in there. Keep it halfway between the FULL and LOW marks and keep it clean and you'll be good.

 

I want to thank you guys for all of this information. Being a fairly new owner of a C6 ,I wasn't aware of any of this. I will be looking at the reservoir in the morning.

 

thx cc- will do as you suggest. And I think your right that the level had gotten low and thats what started the ball rolling. I may have asked you this before should I empty the reservoir out completely and wipe it out or leave a very small amount and then add new? Imay have misunderstood the shop mgr. My head hasn't really been clear the last few days. Thx for the education. Even thru all this I still think I found a good vette. Of course there is that chance im just a dumb - - -Be safe out there. Don

 

Suck out every bit that you can and if there is goo on the bottom of the reservoir, it's fine to wipe it out with a paper towel, then fill halfway between the marks and DRIVE....try to put the current mileage on it every year instead of every 9 years...LOL

 

Yes, the rubber seal will leach pigment in its self and cause the oil to discolor. Yes, you can get moisture in the fluid from checking the fluid too much.
But that is not the problem at hand, since leach pigment is not the chunks/grits of stuff in the fluid.

The problem at hand is the slave cylinder does not sealed off from clutch dust getting back in the fluid through the slave cylinder plunger seal.

The seal plunger is just a big U, so as you press in the clutch pedal, the plunger seal swipes over the metal surfaces that are littered with clutch dust, and as the plunger seal returns inward, just scope all the dust right back in the clutch fluid.

The clutch dust acts like a abrasive when it gets in the fluid, which cause the plunger seals and the plastic master cylinder walls to wear out faster (where the bits of rubber come from that you find in the tank). Granted that they may only be a few table spoons of fluid in the slave cylinder when its at rest, there are three orifice restrictions in the line between then slave cylinder and the master cylinder, and by the time that the master cylinder fluid gets nasty, the fluid in the slave cylinder and lower line is much, much worse.

Yes the system will self air bleed, but that does not mean that it will self rise all the clutch dust to the top of the tank as well. If you ever pulled apart a slave cylinder that had failed, the amount of clutch dust that has goop bonded to inside the U is unbelievable. If you have ever pulled apart a master cylinder that had failed, not only does the plunger look like someone took sandpaper to the seal (same as the slave plunger seal), but the inside plastic walls of the master cylinder are all marred up from the abrasive clutch dust in the fluid as well.

Simply put, power flushing the fluid from the master cylinder, down and out of the slave cylinder through the bleeder valve will cavitate the fluid enough to flush all of this out of the system. Why GM does not make it easier to do this semi annually (get to the slave cylinder bleeder valve to do this without having to drop the tunnel plate), has me still scratching my head.

The ranger method is good in between power flushes every year or two (depending on how much you drive the car), but its not a substitution for such by any means.

 

This video is probably already somewhere in this resurrected thread. I do this with every oil change.

 

09 vert with Z51 option, 6 speed. Cars is stored, usually Oct to March or April. I would say I drive spiritedly, not 100% of the time though. I drive the car everyday top can be put down. I do the ranger method monthly and before car is stored. I'm sure that's overkill, but it's easy to do, and the brake fluid will not be usable anyway. I do ranger method in my 04 ZO6 track car before every track day. It's got a race clutch and fluid is pretty dark after 2 hours of track time.

 

I always love that Video (photo) to prove my point.

On the bottom of the tank, you have settled piece of clutch dust that did not make it back into the reserve tank to drop back down into the master cylinder, and on the top of the fluid floating, parts of the seal plunger that have been worn away due to the abrasive clutch dust in the fluid.

Also to point out, the settled clutch dust in the bottom of the tank is just the tip of the iceberg, since down at the slave cylinder, the fluid is as thick with clutch dust as black oatmeal. And not matter how much you try, your not going to be able to get that dust to suspend enough in the clutch fluid to be able to draw it all out of the system from the reserve tank via the ranger fluid change (gravity working against you.

So best case, the ranger method as least ties to keep the top end of the fluids clean'ish between power flushes; to try to reduce the amount that the dust that would abrase away at the plastic master cylinder walls.