carl3989

Went out to my 08 on Thursday afternoon. pushed in the clutch hit the starter button and = Whoa Nelly!. The vette lurched back. As I took my foot off the pedal it decided it didn't want to play anymore and stayed down. Next morning my local mechanic came over and examined the clutch fluid reservoir. Wow, I've seen yukky looking liquids before, but usually in a cesspool. Mechanic says that either the master or the slave cylinder of the clutch hydaulic system died and its liquified remains are now disbursed in the clutch hydraulic fluid. So now the joy of contacting the dealer starts. Dealer says the slave is warranted under GM certified used warranty (less than a year since purchased), but the master is not.The master is a wear item like brakes or clutch linings. However they will not be able to know until they examine them next week. It being a holiday weekend they won't tow the car until sometime on Tuesday. Guess I'm lucky this happened in my driveway. Weird eh? Less than 25000 miles, never raced and no sign of a problem.Until one day you push the pedal down and the clutch doesn't want to be a clutch anymore.

Jimmy C-6

Have you ever changed the clutch fluid? You might try Rangers technique, since you can't drive it.
http://www.rangeracceleration.com/Clutch_Care.html

fast-vette

The same thing happened to my '08 vert very recently. Parts replaced and labor was covered by warranty. I have 12,300 on the car. Good luck.

Jimmy C-6

You also might try the newer method.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...er-method.html

Rocketmanwpb

Should be part of your 5 year 100,000 mile power-train warranty. I would suggest in the future you start a program of changing the clutch reservoir fluid on a regular basis, quarterly would be good.

Just an FYI the labor to get to the part runs around $1,700.00.

BlueOx

I really fail to see where this 'newer' method is markedly better than Ranger's method. The whole point of pumping the clutch numerous times after putting new fluid in is to flush the lines a bit more, accomplishing the same thing.

If, after you've done a refill or two, the fluid stays clear for a long time after, what is the difference?

This is the one I've been using from Walmart and it is the same one Ranger uses.

Triumph Jerry

Gotta do the Ranger Method at least once a year on a M6.

carl3989

Racer's technique leads me to believe that my problem is too far gone. The slave cylinder is probably so far gone that the only cure is replacement.

Jimmy C-6

wouldn't hurt to try.

Mtnvettes

A question about the clutch dust. Last October, just before putting my 08 vert into storage, I missed a downshift (from 6 to 3 instead of 6 to 5) while going up a mountain pass. I immediately pushed the clutch pedal in, but got a burning odor. The odor lasted for awhile and I took the Corvette to a dealer with a World Class Tech. Test drove it and found no problem. After removing from storage in May, I started the Corvette without moving it and immediately smelled the burning odor, but it went away quickly. Took it to the dealer and they parked it for 5 days before starting it; no odor, but they did not drive it. I was able to reproduce the odor by "riding the clutch" on a hill while waiting for a traffic lite to change, and again, while waiting for my garage door to open. I never had this odor since purchasing the Corvette new; 15K miles on it now.

Talked it over with the Corvette Center south of Colorado Springs and they suspect that it is clutch dust that is source of the odor. I plan to inspect the clutch fluid this next week as described in the above posts.

Based on the posts above, I suspect that brake dust is the culprit and and also suspect that the dust may have entered the fluid. I was wondering if any of the authors of the above posts smelled the dust odor at any time?

Thanks for the excellent post on changing the clutch fluid. I rarely drive any of my Corvettes aggressively, but the missed downshift (first time that has happened in my 50+ years of driving Corvettes) has me worried about the problem. If the fluid is clear, I assume that the dust has not infiltrated the fluid. BTW, how long does it take for the clutch dust to dissipate under normal driving conditions, does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks again for this thread.

carl3989

I will go to Wallymart and get the syringe and dot4. Thanks for the advice.

R&L's C6

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

rayk

Mine looked real close to that at 5,300 miles. Clutch was real grabby. Did the Ranger method and it was silky smooth then.

JRS_MY_C5

On the video, he says that it takes two hours to change the brake fluid using his method. Why? Do you have to do it several times to get all the contaminants out?

J.R.

Triumph Jerry

When I bought my '09 (2 years old) I had to change it 20 times.
No big deal, ...it's so easy.
Change it 6-8 times, then once every week or 2 after driving instead of pumping the peddle.

Triumph Jerry

If you live in Colorado and drive the mountain passes I would suspect the smell would be overheating by lugging the engine.
I always have the DIC (driver information center) set on coolant temp when driving through mountains.
When the guage rizes drop a gear.
I always noticed the smell when the temp rizes.
Clutch dust and high clutch fluid temps are ever present in the C6 ...do the Ranger Method at least once a year.
BTW when you inspect the clutch fluid, ...it will be black.

Jimmy C-6

On the video he says it takes 2 hours per year.

steig

I had an 07 Corvette that had the same issue. Slave cylinder went bad. Now have a 12 Corvette and will keep eye on the brake fluid.

carl3989

...but after a bottle of Prestone DOT4 I was unable to see any contaminants. However the pedal would still not return on its own. Guess they'll have to tow it to the dealer, eh? Here's another thing that I don't understand, why I never knew that this fluid needed to be changed so often? This is the first I ever read about it on the Forum, let alone was I ever told by the dealer, it's just leaves a bad taste for this whole Vette expierience.

MikeyTX

Just because you haven't, doesn't mean the original owner didn't. I was victimized by this exact issue on the '09 I bought used. That's why I traded it after owning it for only 3 mos.