Do not know what kind of vehicle you have, but generally a slave cylinder will show some fluid leakage if it is at fault. A cluch master cylinder can leak (air) internally and fail without any visible fluid leakage. Check inside the car where the cluch master cylinder attaches to the firewall for evidence of fluid leakage.
Even if you are able to fix the problem by bleeding the system, it will problably fail again soon. Both cylinders wear at about the same rate, so replace both, even if only one is at fault, or the other will fail eventually. They sell seal kits to repair some cylinders, but this is usually not a long term fix. The master cylinder is usually pretty easy to replace. Some slave cylinders are accessable without removing the transmission and are an easy fix too. If you have to remove the transmission to replace the slave, you might want to consider replacing the cluch (if the car has a lot of miles) since the labor cost of removing the transmission is already paid for.
One more thing to check. In rare cases the firewall will crack where the cluch master cylinder bolts to it. This allows just enough flex in the firewall, so that you do not get enough travel on the rod going to the cluch pedal. Be sure and check for a crack when you remove the master cylinder.
Good luck.
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Last edited by bullmoose; 10-29-2004 at 06:22 AM..
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