Sticky: (Official) 370Z Clutch Pressure (CSC) Failures

Mandingo

Does anyone know if black deposits (almost like a fine black silt) in the bottom of the clutch fluid reservoir is a sign of seals wearing out on my master or slave cylinder? I am running the stock dot 3 fluid. Flushed about 6 months ago.

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Fountainhead

Hi Mandingo,

The silt could either be decay from the black hose connecting the Clutch fluid reservoir to the Master cylinder or as you suspect, pieces of the O rings and/or the seals in the master cylinder or the CSC.
I'm not a mechanic by trade so those are my best guesses. I did watch a video the other day when a guy bled the old fluid out of his G37 clutch line and the mechanic was wiping out the black silt in the reservoir that you described, he didn't make any comment about it's origin. I don't know if it's normal wear and tear, the clutch does get a lot more sloshing around than the brakes so the fluid could theoretically move from top to bottom on a regular basis.

I found the video again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=1A9fsdoAngI

Joe@ZSpeed

It is normal to get black silt in the reservoir. This is very fine clutch debris that works its way past the seals from the internal slave (CSC). They will all get it sooner or later.

We recommend flushing the system at least twice a year with the stock slave or our HD slave.

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Mandingo

Thank you Joe and Fountainhead. I saw the recent TSB about replacing our dot 3 fluid with the dot 4 brake fluid from the GTR. I've ordered some and will flush this weekend. I'll just keep a closer eye on it now

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Fountainhead

OK, bought new Dot 3-4 brake fluid tonight and pulled all the fluid from my reservoir and used a small hose to pull from my line to Master Cylinder. Then, I found fine black silt in the bottom of my reservoir also! I wiped it out carefully like the guy in the video I linked to, and then filled the reservoir back up with new fluid. Next time I get a chance to work on my own car I'll get someone to pump and I'll flush the line with that GTR fluid.
I'm not having any problems at all but I'm a proactive kind of guy and I think it sounds like a good idea anyway. I'm only at 12K miles but my Z is a May 2009 baby, so the fluid in there is 4 years old.

Fountainhead

Update: So I've pulled and refilled the fluid in my reservoir twice now about 2 days apart, each time the fluid is clear the night I replace it and about a day and half later I notice the fluid is slightly brown again. So 3 times I've pulled all the fluid out of the black hose and the reservoir with a large syringe. This is the third time so maybe it's clean now. I have to wait a couple more days to find out how dirty it gets again. Hopefully it won't take too many more times. I've got plenty of fluid though!
PS: I think I'll stop now, this thread is about failure, not prevention, apologies!