clutch No clutch and black fluid in reservoir

[Foffett]

Please help, I've got engine oil in clutch reservoir (?)

I recently became a proud owner of a 4WD 89 Comanche 4.0 paired to a Peugeot transmission, but the previous owner lost the clutch while delivering it to my house, making clutch-less shifts. We added fluid to the master cylinder reservoir, pumped the clutch, and the fluid turned black. Now the clutch has some pressure, but quickly loses it as it drips from where the rear main seal would be. The seller mentioned that the rear-main seal was most likely bad, and it explained the oil leak that I saw when I test drove it. The master cylinder doesn't seem to be leaking, nor does the line leading to the internally located slave cylinder. The engine oil is pitch black and very low. My best guess is that the slave cylinder blew and is ingesting oil from the rear-main seal leak? Has anyone encountered this? I tried to find videos on how to replace the slave cylinder when it's internally mounted, but had no luck. I wanted to get it running myself so I could plan out what the build would be, but now I'm wondering if I should send it out, swap to an AX15, replace the clutch, and convert to an external slave cylinder. Any advice is much appreciated

[eaglescout526]

I had a slight issue like this. I thought my rear main was going but that is still doing well. The slave cylinder was busted on mine. It looked like oil was coming from the bell house area but it wasn’t. The slave cylinder had enough of a tear that I needed to replace it as I was filling it up more and more frequently until the slave cylinder failed entirely. This could very well be your case but it could need a clutch overhaul anyways. 

[Jeep Driver]

39 minutes ago, Foffett said:

swap to an AX15, replace the clutch, and convert to an external slave cylinder.

 

 

Yes, of course. 

[gogmorgo]

Old brake fluid like what you might find in a clutch that hasn't had the fluid changed out for many years can be quite dark. It's incredibly unlikely oil from a rear main leak is making it into the slave cylinder. 

 

If if there's nothing wrong with the Peugeot trans itself, just the clutch, if you just want to get it driving ASAP I don't see anything wrong with just changing out the leaking slave cylinder. But it wouldn't be bad to have the external slave ax15 ready to swap in the next time the trans needs to come out if that's the way you want to go. But yes, the engine and trans need to be separated to get the slave cylinder out, so either the engine or trans needs to come out, the transmission is going to be less work. 

Not every engine oil leak that looks  like a rear main seal leak is actually coming from the rear main, in fact most don't. Common leaks are the oil filter adapter, distributor gasket, and valve cover gasket. Because the engine sits tilted back, almost every leak ends up running down the oil pan mounting surface and back, making it look like a rear main leak. 

[yxmj]

The line from the Master to the slave has deteriorated.... just old..... that is probably the source of the black you see.....short term you need to drain and flush the fluid, and bleed the clutch....long term, as said....new master, line and slave

 

[cruiser54]

This^^.