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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Clutch Fluid Color

'73 1275. My clutch fluid is a dark color. The reservoir has always been full so there are no leaks but the fluid is dark you might say it's dirty, how can this happen? Should I remove this fluid, flush it out and put in new fluid? The clutch seems like it's not disengaging as well as it should, can this fluid be the problem?
Jon Saylor

Hydraulic liquid is not the most friendly stuff.
With age it will get darker by affecting the rubber in the MC and slave.
This is normal wear.

Changing the fluid and checking the seals sounds like a good idea in your case
Onno Könemann

Brake fluid gets darker as it absorbs moisture from the air; colour is diagnostic for fluid contamination, by either oil or water. That causes corrosion, lowers the boiling point, and is generally evil. And it eats seals eventually. Any degradation of seals, etc, also darkens fluid. The fluid is probably not causing your problem, but it may have lead to the wear that is causing your trouble.
Fluid should be drained and flushed at 3 years maximum. Use of Dot4 (Castrol GTLMA) is highly recommended, and I have cleared up some systems that looked really nasty by changing the fluid.

FRM
FR Millmore

Jon, failed disengaging could be due to the seals being degraded and letting hydraulic pressure slip back through them slightly. Which is often announced by blackening fluid as the rubber dissolves slightly as Onno says.

Sounds like time for new seals, if you are lucky you may escpe the usual (at this point) damaged cylinder bores and a need for a rehoning or even new cylinders

If this is the case please change the seals at both ends of the line. Better done all at once when you break into the lines.
Bill 1

Thanks for your comments. I'll remove the cylinders and start from there.
Jon Saylor

This thread was discussed between 21/08/2011 and 22/08/2011

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