Honda Car Forum

Today I replaced the clutch master and slave cylinders on my 94 Civic
EX. Master cylinder was leaking and starting to feel funny, and the
dealer on pre-purchase inspection had said that the slave was leaking
too. Turns out it didn't appear to be, but the boot was pretty rotten,
the piston didn't look exactly perfect, and I had already bought the
part, so I stuck it in. Piece of cake, mostly. Couple of tips for anyone
doing it:

1) It's pretty much impossible to use even a 12-pt combo wrench on the
left master cylinder nut. Because the bolt extends way beyond the nut
and because the fit is really tight, I used a deep socket on a 3-inch
extension. Once they're loosened slightly they come off real smooth with
a finger.

2) While one *might* be able to get the new master cylinder in without
removing the clutch fluid reservoir, it is *much* easier both out and in
if you remove it. I sucked the fluid out with one of those MityVac
vacuum pumps, then placed paper towel underneath before removing the
reservoir hose. Wow, was that fluid dirty--black with crud, I assume
from the degradation of the rubber in the master cylinder.

Incidentally, the ~$35 MityVac job (if I remember how much I paid for
it) has a plastic pressure gauge cover that cracked and came off at the
first little scrape in the trunk. Shoddy design, I'd say. They do sell a
metal one, but if I recall it's about double the price.

3) I recommend completely removing the short length of pipe that's
connected to the slave cylinder to prevent damaging the pipe in trying
to get it out of the cylinder after unscrewing the fitting. It's jammed
in there pretty well, and the shape did not lend itself to coming out
easily till I disconnected the other end as well. I suppose you could
just unbolt the slave at that point and it might not be a problem.

4) I put anti-seize on the slave cylinder bolts before reassembly, but
this really didn't seem all that necessary, as they came right out.
Foolish me, though, had my hand in a stupid place as I was applying
leverage, and I took off a good amount of skin. Ow. Good reminder to
wear latex gloves, and be careful of where body parts are when applying
force.

5) Between both sucking the fluid out of the reservoir and completely
changing the fluid during bleeding, I caught just 80 ml of fluid. System
holds a lot less fluid than the brake circuits, for sure.

6) The last guy/gal to touch the release fork boot just shoved it in
improperly. It was permanently deformed in such a way that crud could
enter the clutch housing, and the rubber was pretty rotten. I replaced
the boot. Hoping there isn't too much crap in the housing...

Done in around 2 hours, including clutch pedal readjustment; that long
mainly due to maneuvering tight spaces and schmoozing (did it on the
street). ;-)

Abe