It was all going well...

"HoustonRunner" (houstonrunner) 07/29/2019 at 09:17 • Filed to: None

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The E28 was running so well I decided to go look for problems. I had not take the wheels off to look at the brakes so I tackled that yesterday afternoon.

The good news is that the brakes are in really good condition, and most of the seals / lines / wiring looked to be in good shape.

Then there is the other news, though not all that bad.

Pretty sure that isn’t supposed to look like that. Guess I’m shopping for new front shocks .

Then there is this:

That is the drivers side of the transmission, and it appears to be coming from the slave cylinder. I didn’t figure out what that part was until late in the evening, so I have not checked the fluid level yet. But the amount of fluid on the floor was about a tablespoon, so it does not appear catastrophic.

Odd that it started leaking the week after my first oil change, so I’m going to have to look at the leaking fluid and all levels closer tonight.

someassemblyrequired > HoustonRunner 07/29/2019 at 09:30

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If the car had been sitting a while it’s not a shock. The seals in the slave cylinders go bad with lack of use. They’re a relatively cheap part ($40 or so at FCPEuro) , I’d probably swap it.

Khalbali > HoustonRunner 07/29/2019 at 09:33

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The shocks don’t really l ook bad as far as I can see, that's just a dust cover and sometimes they just snap back up. It also looks like that's with the wheel off the ground so under load it might not even really have a gap. Either way if it was my car I'd probably leave it if it rides fine and the shock isn't actually leaking.

pip bip - choose Corrour > HoustonRunner 07/29/2019 at 09:39

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new shocks all round then

if you’re doing the fronts might as well bite the bullet and do the rears

HoustonRunner > someassemblyrequired 07/29/2019 at 11:08

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Not sure if pun intended or not, but +1 for you either way.

I’m going to try and confirm it is the slave cylinder leaking, then I’ll just get the part. What I have no idea on is the age - since this was an auto to manual swap sometime in the last 3-5 years, I don’t know if it is that old, or the person who swapped left on the original slave cylinder.

HoustonRunner > Khalbali 07/29/2019 at 11:09

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Agree, not doing anything about the shocks now, they just go on the list (but near the bottom).

someassemblyrequired > HoustonRunner 07/29/2019 at 11:47

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Ha yes, that was quite a pun as it turned out (unintentionally).

Given the look of the fluid from the photos I’m 95% certain it’s the slave. Engine oil or a transmission leak would tend to look different - since the brake fluid is alcohol based it tends to clearer looking vs. an oil leak.   I bet they left the old cylinder on during the swap.

MM54 > HoustonRunner 07/29/2019 at 21:31

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That dust boot doesn’t look too concerning, I wouldn’t move them up the list for it. The leak underneath though does look like the slave cylinder, which fortunately looks like a pretty easy part to replace.