highmileage

My Prelude has been slowly losing the clutch fluid over the course of 2-3 weeks.
After the reservoir went dry I decided to go ahead and replace the clutch slave cylinder
and bleed the system. I'm still losing fluid somewhere. The master cylinder seems ok even though its damp from some spillage and the line connecting the master cyl to the slave cyl seems ok for what I can see. Forward gears work so-so but when going backwards for very long the hydraulic pressure is dropping and its harder to pop back into neutral.

When in stop n go traffic yesterday if I keep the clutch to the floor and in 1st gear after about a minute or so the clutch starts engaging and dragging down the idle. If I put it back in neutral, let the clutch out, push the clutch back in all is fine for another minute or so.
Could it be the master cylinder starting to go out? Release bearing or something acting weird? Its hydraulic pressure-related I know that much.

Of course the other mystery is where my fluid is going. Are there any clutch fluid lines inside tranny where the clutch fluid is going that could have cracked and started leaking or is it all external to the master/slave cylinders?

Stats:
Slave cylinder -new (400 miles)
Master Cylinder - approx 117,000 miles
Clutch and related parts - 169,000 miles

Any input would be appreciated..

Thanks!

Chris

1992CivicSI

I had a similar experience on my Civic (D16Z6). Turns out that my slave cylinder was leeking fluid into the transmission housing. May want to check the slav cyl.

shakes

my guess since you are loosing fluid would be to replace the master cylinder. that is quite old. also with 169,000 miles on the clutch its amazing that thing is still alive.

highmileage

Well the wife and I worked on it last night around dark and we discovered there is a small leak on the clutch hose right at the fitting. Of course none of the local car parts stores stock the clutch hose so now I have to fend the Honda dealerships against each other as well as Manchester Honda. Hopefully that hose will wrap up the project for a while.

Chris