clutch cover oil seal needs replacing.

[smsdad99]

I am trying to replace my clutch cover oil seal without removing the cover. Do I need the special tools listed in the manual? I already have removed the clutch slave and the clutch cover seal appears to  be damaged. I was loosing brake fluid and gaining oil which is where this mess started. Any help or suggestions would be great.

Thanks!

[Highbinder]

If you are losing brake fluid from the clutch master cylinder and gaining engine oil, it seems to me the only way it can get in the crankcase is thru the slave clutch...dis assemble the slave clutch, check the piston and seal, spring tension, etc., they sell a rebuild kit for the slave clutch..

As far as the clutch cover oil seal, are you talking about seal between the cover and the back of clutch housing, if so, if this was damaged you'd be leaking oil, not gaining, I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're describing...

[smsdad99]

on page 9-19 of the service manual it shows a picture of the part I am talking about and it says to use tools driver  and attachment 32x35 mm and gives parts numbers for those tools. The top of my seal seems to be damaged where the lifter rod goes through it. While flipping though to service manual on page 9-11 it shows a picture of the tools. It looks like a socket the size of the seal will work? Maybe tap on the socket with a hammer? I was thinking that is where the leaking is coming from? In the service manual it does not say anything about changing the seal when changing the clutch slave. My local Honda parts guy pointed it out to me when I was ordering parts. I am glad he did because I would not have checked the seal before reinstalling.

Does that make it clear? I hope you have a manual so you can see exactly what I am talking about.

Thanks again.

[smsdad99]

We tried to remove the seal without removing the cover. It just comes apart in pieces and we still do not have it all removed. I am about to remove the cover so we can drive it out from the other side. I hope we did not drop any parts inside the clutch. RRR

[Highbinder]

O.K. now I see what you're talking about, I thought you were referring to the back plate that covers the back of the clutch housing.....yes, you have to remove the cover in order to replace that seal and yes, that's probably where the fluid was leaking from....when you get ready to recharge the line, use a vaccum pump if you have one, they can be a bitch to get the air out of the line, when recharging open and close the clutch handle a few times, that seems to help get the fluid down to the slave clutch...good luck...

[smsdad99]

Here is the latest update. I drained the oil and removed the clutch cover. I had waited several hours to give the oil plenty of time to completely drain. The clutch cover was stuck on pretty good and we had to beat and pry it off. We tried to be careful to not hit it too hard fearing we may break the cover. When we finally got a crack in it we were able to use a pry bar and get it off. One surprise we had is the clutch still had quite a bit of oil in it and dumped about a pint to a quart of oil on the ground. I thought it was all drained but now I know not all the oil comes out when you drain it. I guess it was good that we did have to remove the clutch cover because the oil must have been contaminated with brake fluid aka clutch fluid. We were getting things cleaned for reassembly when we noticed the lifter rod has some scratches in it. So we ordered a new one and it should be in the middle of next week. RRRR

Thinking of reinstalling the kick stand to try to prevent it from tipping over.

[Rio Wil]

Are you rebuilding or replacing the clutch slave cylinder......after all, that is whats is leaking fluid.
It is also curious why the clutch fluid did not drain out the weep hole in the bottom of the slave cylinder housing???

[smsdad99]

I guess I am rebuilding it. I am replacing the three seals the spring and the lifter rod. Also the 4 crush washers. I thought the lifter rod was just a little dirty until I started cleaning it and saw some scratches on it. So I am on the sidelines waiting for parts again.

We did go ahead and reinstall the kickstand while waiting on parts.