Oil soaked clutch.

The Thunderbird blew the clutch line on the way home today. I haven't climbed under it yet, but I'm guessing it popped the connector where the line plugs into the slave cylinder. I limped it home without a clutch and it was slipping at first. Probably sprayed down with hydraulic oil. The closer to the house I got, the less it slipped. Will it dry out and survive or do I get to replace a 6000 mile clutch?

You could try hitting it with brake cleaner but it looks like you're screwed:

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=380403

Maybe try the "fuller's earth" or MEK & acetone trick from that thread.

Sorry Toyman, time for a new clutch.

Last year I had to replace a clutch in a customer's Road Runner. Rear main seal leaked all over the clutch. Scored the flywheel pretty good and trashed the pressure plate.

Yeah, that's what I figured. That's a 5 hour job too. The fuel tank has to come out to drop the drive shaft. I might have to make some calls and find out what it will cost to let someone else do it. Damn that sucks.

A thought just occurred to me. If memory serves, the connector looks like a dry break and it popped while the clutch was depressed. What are the chances it's holding pressure in the slave cylinder?

Never mind I've got the old one on a shelf in the shop...

Damn it is a dry break. The old slave cylinder that's been sitting on my shelf still had some residual pressure in it after sitting on the shelf for over a year. I might have lucked out. I'll have to get the car in the air this weekend and find out exactly where it popped.

This is the connector where I think the problem is. This one was dry until I opened the valve in it.

How much of a PITA is the job? Is it worth putting a questionable disk in? You could try cleaning it really well with everything you have, then sticking it in the oven on high until it stops smoking. I've done that with HD clutch plates before. Ahh... Don't try this with momma around.

If you can depress the clutch pedal, You've blown something up. If the dry break came apart, it could hold the clutch down a bit, since it likely blew apart when you had the pedal depressed. I would be surprised if you were able to get much fluid on the disc.

And if your clutch slave has hydraulic oil in it, that would be why it exploded. Brakes and clutches do not EVER use oil. The use brake fluid. These two things are not the same, and the term "oil" should never be used, since a young person will hear the term and decide it would be just fine to add a bit of engine oil to the brake fluid. End of one of my personal rants...

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

Rant noted. It's still a hydraulic fluid even though the can is labeled brake fluid. I'll try to be more specific in the future.

I'm starting to think the disk is fine and the clutch is depressed part way. The pedal was on the floor when it popped. I'll find out for sure Saturday. It's too hot in the afternoons to climb around under a car.

Of course that means driving the BMW to work with no A/C. I'm going to be hot no matter what.