My miata has an independent clutch slave reservoir?! GAAAHHH WTH!

[OVERDRIFT]

So i feel like a fool. I had so much trouble bleeding my clutch last time (ie i couldnt) and couldn't figure out why it wasnt working. Everywhere I read said that the clutch slave fluid and the brake fluid were on the same reservoir.

Just now I checked under the hood just to see what the fluid levels were like. The brake fluid reservior was full and fine. I followed all of the tubes out from it and they all went into the abs unit. "wtf, something isn't right here..." I thought and went back to the source. In looking all around the unit for a separate tube I noticed one passing right by it to a white plastic reservoir 5 inches away. The cap on this one advised i use dot3 and it all started to come together. This tube led all the way over to the slave. My bleeding problem seems to have been resolved.

My questions are these.

Can i leave the Ebrake engaged during the repair now that these are separate systems?

Are all Miatas like this or just the 1.8 m? (why didnt i ever see instructions regarding it? maybe i am dumb?)

WHY DIDNT I EVER SEE THIS IN THE INSTRUCTIONS?! WHY AM I SO BLIND NOT TO SEE THE THING RIGHT NEXT TO IT?!

Its been several days since the clutch went. I didnt see any spray or leakage on the tube therefore i believe it to be intact and the slave just went bad.


My other car is having wonky electrical problems and i need this miata to get me to work tomorrow morning. I will be getting a replacement or a new slave from mazmart today. I dont have time to shop around. Assuming I can get my hands on a socket set i can get this taken care of.

Any thoughts you have are appreciated.

[RotorNutFD3S]

The brake cylinder and clutch cylinder are two seperate things altogether. All Miatas are like this. :D
From your previous post, we know that MazMart owes you a replacement, but unless they can prove that it's perfect, don't waste your time with it. And don't buy a new one when you can get a rebuild kit for around $20-25. Go to Advance, AutoZone, O'reilly's, whatever, just buy the rebuild kit and be done with it until it fails again someday down the road. You're potentially setting yourself up for more hassle if you keep getting used slave parts.

[wildfire0310]

The brake cylinder and clutch cylinder are two seperate things altogether. All Miatas are like this. :D
From your previous post, we know that MazMart owes you a replacement, but unless they can prove that it's perfect, don't waste your time with it. And don't buy a new one when you can get a rebuild kit for around $20-25. Go to Advance, AutoZone, O'reilly's, whatever, just buy the rebuild kit and be done with it until it fails again someday down the road. You're potentially setting yourself up for more hassle if you keep getting used slave parts.


I totally agree and after watching Ben rebuild Sean's slave at the first tech day, it is stupid easy.

Buy a used slave is stupid, sorry it really is, cause you have no idea how much abuse the slave saw and it could last you anywhere from 5 years to 10 mins before it leaks again. The only way I would put on a use slave, is if it was free, and even then... maybe not. Just to annoy to have to replace it again and rebleed it, if it doesn't work

[Doppelgänger]

lol

When Thomas and I were doing some brake work on my car, we decided to go ahead and flush my clutch fluid too. I got in the car and start doing the "pump....ok...hold.......ok....pump" process. Not thinking anything about Thomas adding fluid. Next thing I know the pedal has no pressure and no fluid coming out of the bleeder and Thomas stratching his head because he swore he just topped it off. So I get out and look and tell him it's empty.....as he realizes it has a seperate system. I laughed.....a lot. I think it's prett obvious to see since it's like 1" away from the brake cyl. :lol:


So let me guess, your "bad used slave" isn't bad afterall now that you've found the correct place to add fluid?

[OVERDRIFT]

Well the slave is still bad- It looked pretty rough last time but i had no experience to tell these things. You make a very good point with regards to just rebuilding or buying new. I know the last one was bad because i had the system professionally bled by apollon who obviously knew exactly where to bleed it :P . It worked fine for a few weeks and then quit. The boot was full of fluid and the reservoir empty.

Paul at mazmart has been a huge help and picked out a replacement slave that looked good. When i went to pick it up he pulled back the boot and the interior looked very new. In fact there was still a ton of lube inside. I really have no choice now but to put it in. I cannot rebuild it today as I am grounded here and need to be at work tomorrow. Perhaps I will do that on a tech day.

I have all the tools here to do this. Someone should be here later to help me finish bleeding the system. If not my GF can push the pedal tonight. If my backup car had not crapped out I wouldn't be up against this wall.

[wildfire0310]

Well the slave is still bad- It looked pretty rough last time but i had no experience to tell these things. You make a very good point with regards to just rebuilding or buying new. I know the last one was bad because i had the system professionally bled by apollon who obviously knew exactly where to bleed it :P . It worked fine for a few weeks and then quit. The boot was full of fluid and the reservoir empty.

Paul at mazmart has been a huge help and picked out a replacement slave that looked good. When i went to pick it up he pulled back the boot and the interior looked very new. In fact there was still a ton of lube inside. I really have no choice now but to put it in. I cannot rebuild it today as I am grounded here and need to be at work tomorrow. Perhaps I will do that on a tech day.

I have all the tools here to do this. Someone should be here later to help me finish bleeding the system. If not my GF can push the pedal tonight. If my backup car had not crapped out I wouldn't be up against this wall.

The nice part is that it doesn't take an extra tools to rebuild the slave compared to replacing it. The rebuild is more of a just pop out the old spring and piston and install the new ones.

[OVERDRIFT]

Clutch slave is in, bled and car is moving great! Saturn had a small cheap repair as well! yay!

[ben91]

rebuild kit is $6 at o'reilly auto parts. I had to do mine a couple weeks ago.

[FooSchnickens]

The brake cylinder and clutch cylinder are two seperate things altogether. All Miatas are like this. :D

Actually the NC uses a shared reservoir between the brake and clutch master. Seemed like an awful big gamble if a caliper or slave ever leaked excessively.

"Huh, that's odd, my clutch just stopped work- ******** MY BRAKES"

[RotorNutFD3S]

:lol:
Well that's news. I haven't looked at an NC close enough though. I never really consider them either when it comes to technical stuff as they don't share anything with the NAs or NBs. :shrug:

[MoD_Scotty]

Actually the NC uses a shared reservoir between the brake and clutch master. Seemed like an awful big gamble if a caliper or slave ever leaked excessively.

"Huh, that's odd, my clutch just stopped work- ******** MY BRAKES"

EVOs do, too. Talk about a gamble!

[mustangtomiata]

It's got to be scary feeling when 3 out ouf 3 pedals fall to the floor with little effort...ROFL NC miata fail, EVO fail, what others car have this failure...i mean design?