One of the first things Marcus said to me when we met and he looked at my car was, "Make sure you change the clutch fluid." So, I decided to do some research and after reading many threads I thought I ought to go check out the clutch fluid in my car. I've had it about 6 weeks now and love the manual shift. I haven't had a manual since I had my 64 coupe 40 years ago. Anyway, what I found when I popped the hood and actually looked at the slave cylinder was it appeared very dark. I knew this wasn't right (after reading and watching rangers' videos http://www.rangeracceleration.com/Clutch_Care.html, Thanks Ranger!). I bought a syringe and sucked out as much of the old stuff as I could, there was still a lot of black crap in the bottom. So with a blue towel I was able to wipe all the crap out. I shot the junk into a clean butter tub and it looked like very strong coffee. So I filled the reservoir with clean and pumped the clutch pedal 100 times. Checked again still very murky. Repeat the process, murky still. Repeat again, better, but still a little junk in there, So one more time before I get the fluid where it is clear.

I actually found the syringe at a farm supply place, I bought the 60mL size. and surprisingly, I had a hard time finding straight DOT 4 brake fluid. Three places before I found straight DOT 4. Many places had DOT 3 and 4, but not straight DOT 4.

The picture below is the results of all the fluid I sucked out, not just the first. Amazing how dark that crap is. I highly recommend that if you have a manual trans to change the fluid out often. It's easy to do, doesn't really cost much, doesn't take much time to do and you'll be saving yourself a bunch of headaches down the road.

Very nice! I always enjoy the simple methods.

Make sure not to spill on the paint

Good reminder - I haven't done mine in a few years.

Once you get it cleaned up Tom you can just put new fluid in about once a month, that's what I do anyway. Then while you drive the car you work the clutch instead of wearing your leg out....it becomes routine maintenance.

Good job Tom, and necessary.

So, how fast will fluid discolor? Well, although timewise this isn't applicable to street cars, I bleed the calipers on the race cars every race. Under this extreme usage (and high heat) the fluid in the caliper will start to discolor in 3 sessions (that's an hour and a half). You can see why once a year on the street is a good idea.

I'm not thrilled with the syphon method though (it's acceptable but not the best and I do use it on power steering) but actually bleeding the annular throwout bearing would be better.

If I was lucky enough to have a C6, this would be one of the first things I would buy for the car:

http://store.katechengines.com/c6-rem ... utch-bleeder-kit-p96.aspx

I'd also vacuum bleed (air powered) the system.
I have a vacuum bleeder but am going to pick one of these up:
http://www.harborfreight.com/brake-fluid-bleeder-92924.html

Using these, your fluid change now takes 10 minutes.

And the bleeder works great on brakes.

Those remote bleeders are the cat's meow. But I've heard they are a real PITA to install unless you are doing a clutch replacement.

Marcus, that makes good sense. About once a month would be easy to do.