Transmission, Manual

Master Cylinder Hose Replacement

I decided to replace the infamous blue hose that feeds fluid to the clutch master cylinder. Mine

was starting to shed the blue covering and felt soft. I had some of the hose left over from when
my son replaced that hose on the '88 S4 last summer so it was handy. That sucker is really
hidden down under the brake master cylinder booster, but by feeling and tugging a little I got
the hose off the cylinder connector. So far, so good, I thought in my stupidity. Now to put the
new hose back on and I'll be finished. There was no way I could get the hose on the end of that
clutch master cylinder fitting. The fitting it slides over kept moving and turning. I even ran an
aluminum wire of about 1/8" dia through the hose and into the cylinder fitting to keep the hose
and fitting aligned. No go. Bummer. Bad words.

I decided I had better take out the cylinder. Not a bad job at all. Disconnect the output line to
the clutch cylinder. Disconnect the actuating rod from the clutch pedal arm. Loosen two bolts
with a 13mm socket, and push the old cylinder out. I left the two bolts in the holes because
there was a couple spacers that looked like they could get loose/lost and make reassembly more
difficult if the bolts were out. Upon looking at the old cylinder, I noticed that it was starting to
leak. Not enough to require replacing fluid in the 6 months I've had the car, or to drip on the
carpet, but the inside of the boot around the end of the cylinder, and the end of the actuator rod
was wet with brake fluid. Now, I have to get a new cylinder, or rebuild this one. I think there are
rebuild kits. I did dodge a bullet though, well maybe a BB, in that I was able to catch the slightly
leaking clutch cylinder and get it fixed before some more disasterous type of failure occurred.
Now getting it back together may be more of a problem, but I'll tackle that when I get the
new cylinder.

Louis Ott
'90GT