Saturday while driving to MI Concours I suddenly developed a leak in the clutch slave cylinder. I was able to pull the car into an empty parking lot and left to return with a trailer. My friend got under the car an while I depressed the clutch he watched the fluid shoot out from the slave cylinder. We towed the car to the show and I ended up taking a 2nd in the Driven Class.

The car is a 1966 Jaguar Series 1 XKE 2+2 with 112,000 miles. The slave cylinder was replaced about 4-5 years ago. I ordered a new slave cylinder and a rebuild kit for the clutch slave cylinder. I plan on pulling the cylinder and inspect for pitting in the bore. If it is pitted I will install the new slave cylinder, if not I will use the rebuild kit and replace the seals.

Do you think this rebuild will last or should I just bite the bullet and replace with a new one. I drive the car to shows and probably drive a 1000 miles a year. Does this limited mileage contribute to the seal failure from lack of use?

Thanks for any help.

 

If you lightly hone the slave cylinder and find no pitting or obvious wear, then it should be realitively safe to rebuild it. Be sure to use a good quality fluid and it would be nice if you drove it more often to keep it limbered up. They get pretty crankey if you dont use them occasionaly. How would you like to be ignored like that ? Just teasing. good luck