Oh where Oh where does my Dot 3 go?

[Tug-n-pull]

1051021

I bought my jeep and the dot 3 went somewhere a few times. I did the refill bit. Somewhere between the master and the slave it is doing a vanishing act. Rebuilt the clutch and the garage guy say's he would not change the slave or master as they both look pretty new. No signs of leakage of dot 3 on either. Have driven now with new clutch for a couple of months no problems at all. Yesterday the pressure was gone in the clutch and I had to refill for the 1st time after the rebuild. So today it is worse, pulled into the shop crawled under and the jeep and bleed the system, it is still not back up as good as it was but it is changeing now. Reverce is a bit hard to hit with a bit of grind. Question I can not find any sign of a leak over the whole system, so where does the dot 3 go? Thanks for any help!

Tug

[addsig]

 

[Quik8slvr]

1051039

i had a similar problem a few years back, couldnt find the leak, eventually ended up replacing the part that you refill (master cylindar im guessing) and all the tubing that connects it to the clutch, never had a problem after that but still couldnt figure out where the leak was coming from

[addsig]

 

[Jokera]

1051050

Tug, where the clutch peddle linkage goes thru the firewall, there should be a cylinder with a rubber boot on it. If the rubber boot goes bad, the fluid will leak inside the Jeep. Most folks don't pay it any attention, thinking that it's just another water leak, if they see it at all. Pull you're carpet/floor mat back and see if the floorboard is wet.



Hope this helps & good luck.

Keven[addsig]

 

[Quik8slvr]

1051057

If the floor board is wet and its brake fluid it will have eaten all the paint off[addsig]

 

[dingus]

1051074

... and that's not good...[addsig]

 

[Tug-n-pull]

1051083

Puddle in floor? not! paint still good? yes! Thanks for the help! I have traced the lines pretty much all the way! No sign of drip at the bell houseing and transmission! No ign of leak at the master! I wonder if I have a Grimmlin that has a tast for dot 3 heheheheh Tug[addsig]

 

[CARDOC123]

1051092

Hey Tug, The only thing I can add is, I don't know if your slave cylinder is on the outside of the bell housing or inside. If its outside and you've checked all these things, then good luck. If it's on the inside then it could be dripping at the bottom of the bell housing. If it's taking several months to go down then it will be really hard to find. About all you can do is keep it clean and keep looking until you find it. Hope you find it soon.[addsig]

 

[Quik8slvr]

1051096

put some dishsoap on all the lines and have someone pump the clutch, see if you can find any bubbles, dunno if this will work in this application but it works for finding leaky gaskets [addsig]

 

[CARDOC123]

1051100

Oh yeah tug, sometimes I forget things. Just wanted to let you know that there is a dye kit with a UV light you can but to find leaks. You can probably buy for about the same cost as taking your ride to a shop. Or you can use the soap method, but be very careful, do not pump the clutch, just push it in once because if you introduce any water or soap into the hydraulic system you'll have to flush it and replace seals and rubber. DOT3 does absorb moisture, but only so much. FYI, unless the owners manual says otherwise, I mught switch to DOT4. It has a higher boiling point and absorbs alittle more moisture than DOT3. And I think it states on the bottle that it can be mixed with DOT3, you may want to check that just in case. I have been wrong before and I'm sure I'm not finished yet![addsig]