Where is the clutch cylinder?

"Z28_Sedan" typed until their fingers bled, and came up with:

it is just under your brake booster. if you have ABS, it is more of a pain. We swapped the hydrolics on our ITA car twice in one day (can you believe 2 bad (used) sets?) It shouldn't take more than 30 minutes or so to do. 2 bolts off the tranny, unclip at the top of the pedal, and twist on the firewall from the engine side. replacement is the oposite.

Thank you. I found it yesterday evening. There it was right out in the open. Duhhhh! (My car doesn't have ABS so I can't even blame that).

Thanks also for the instructions. I picked up a Haynes manual and it looked like it should be pretty easy. I'm glad to hear from your description that it's pretty easy too. It's in my garage with the battery tray and the air intake out already ( (thank goodness I have another car) waiting for the swap.

For the rest of the group's info, Autozone has the full sealed hydrolic setup (both cylinders connected by hoses and pre-bled) for $129.95. My store didn't have one in stock, but they ordered it and it will be in about 5 days.

..once I found the master cylinder, I checked the fluid level and it was dry. I added fluid and drove it for a while, but that didn't help at all. Still hard as heck to shift into any gear. I sure hope the new hydrolics does the trick.

Did you check how much is it from Saturn? Could be pretty close...

No, but given what other people here have posted ($150-175), the high cost of living here in NM and the fact that the nearest Saturn dealer is 2-hours away from me made the Autozone part that much more attractive. I do agree though that the dealer part would probably be higher quality.

probably air in the line and needs to be bled. big question is what happened to the fluid? Not sure about the new DOT brake fluids but the older ones (dot 3?) were glycerin/alcohol based and were water soluble. they absorb moisture and should be bled out every few years and new fluid added. failing to do this, the absorbed water rusts the master, slave and brake cylinders.

The fluids definitly absorb moisture, that is there intention. However, the Saturn clutch system is not designed to be bled. It is a sealed system and that's it.

Live and learn... Every other car I worked on with a master/slave clutch cylinder had some means of bleeding, even if it was removing a tube fitting on the slave cylinder to drain out the old fluid.

Just to follow up for the archives, the Autozone part did the trick. Now it shifts like butter. Easy install too. Honestly, the hardest part was taking out the battery tray and air-intake assembly (and that's a piece of cake).

If you're having problems with the shifter binding where it feels like you have to push the clutch through the floor board to get it to shift in and out of gear (and even then it's a fight), don't take it to a shop.

First, try adding fluid to your existing master cylinder (in the engine-bay, on the driver-side fire wall). If that doesn't help, you've got air in your lines. Unfortunately the OEM part can't be bled, you have to buy a new unit. Go to Autozone (or if you prefer, your local Saturn dealer) and ask for a complete hydrolic clutch release for whatever year/model you have (I have a feeling it's the same part number for all years). It will cost you ~$138 with tax. Installation is a breeze:

0) Remove the battery, battery tray and air-intake assembly. 1) Unclip the linkage to the clutch pedal (inside the car, under the dash). 2) Remove the two nuts holding the slave cylinder bracket onto the transmission (easily accessible from the engine bay...no need to ever go under the vehicle). 3) While pushing the slave cylinder toward the transmission, turn it counter-clockwise (you may need pliers to get a better grip) about 1/6 a turn and it should just pop out. 4) At the master cylinder end, turn the cylinder clock-wise about 1/8 of a turn and pull it out of the fire wall. 5) Then just finnagle it out of the engine bay (the brakelines were in the way for my '97, so it took a bit of coaxing"). 6) Installation is the reverse of the removal.

As I understand it, if you have ABS (my car doesn't), it's a bit more difficult becaust the ABS stuff is in the way, but...