I'm almost down to my last to do on the mother in law's car this year. It's a 96 850 w over 350k miles. From what I saw the last timing belt change was at 150k from what I see on the sticker Mileage is probably understated since the odometer wasn't working until I replaced the gears last year. Over the last month, I've been working to keep it out of the graveyard. Here's the list of daunting things I've tackled in the current escapade.

Water pump, timing belt, hydraulic tensioner, tensioner pulley, timing belt idler, accessory belt, oil trap including a sump drop and inspection, driveshaft, and lower control arm.

I'm down to the last item on the critical list, a busted clutch hydraulic line. I've got some docs, but I get nervous anytime I hear quick disconnect. That term scares me. Rarely is it ever quick. Anybody know what tool I need to disconnect the clutch line from the master cylinder and how to approach this? From the picture I have, I'm thinking from the bottom but am not sure. Maybe you have to go blind from the top with the abs controller in the way? Once I get this devil in there, can I just open the bleeder and pump away to get the air out, or is it more like brakes? I know my honda works like this and not like brakes with the good old pump and hold.

I can wait to reap the fruit's of my labor. The car is gonna drive so nice without the trashed ball joint and torn outer cv For a 96 this car still feels solid with the exception of the beat cv and ball joint.

 

guess I'm going in alone. Off to the tank we go.

 

Sorry I just did a manual swap on my car yesterday and could not figure out how to remove the line myself. So I left everything connected and swapped it all as one piece.

 

Ok... victory is mine.. I got that line off the master. Here's how it went down, and believe me, it was not easy or fun. I did it from up top and used my 6th sense.

There is a rubber hose in the way.. Shove it to the side so you can see where it connects to the master cylinder. The clip comes in from the left or the passenger side, and exits on the other side, parallel to the ground. You can see the notches in the master cylinder where the clip exits. You can't see where to pry it out unless you use a mirror.

If you don't have a mirror, you need one! Famous chief marine engineer dad quotes from back in the day... "How can you have a toolbox without an inspection mirror!" I used a flashlight, an inspection mirror, and a whole bag full of bad language to figure out how to approach this and remove it.

The only way to go in is blind. Get a good picture of the situation in your head with the flashlight and inspection mirror. You can see where the aluminum clip goes into the master cylinder to retain the line. Approach it from the front of the car, and maybe left handed folks have an advantage. I used a real small knife at first. Maybe I scraped a tiny amount of plastic away where the clip goes in to make some clearance to pry it up. I'm not sure. What worked in the end was a skinny flat head. A Jeweler's screwdriver set would probably work. What I found in my father in law's garage was a long skinny flathead. If you're using a knife, it's tight in there. Real easy to cut yourself or a hose. I advise being gentle with the prying cause the clip can go flying. Luckily I have good eyes and found it on the ground right next to the car, still in perfect form.

Putting it back together was also not the easiest. The routing is nutty and the line has a lot of bends. When I took it out, I pulled the end connected to the slave out first. When I put it back together, I figured out how to route it to the master first, pulled it out enough to feed the flexible part down to the slave.

I had a little bit of difficulty getting the line into the master cylinder, but it finally went in. After I got it in, it took a little bit of patience to reinsert the clip.

After that was done, I was nice enough to change the front brake pads. I found the brake lines dry rotted and cracked. They were also a real pain to remove. Lots of brakeKleen and liquid wrench probably helped. I think the nut that bolts into the brake line is an 11mm. You need a 14mm to hold the line steady while removing it. Not a whole lot of fun on a car with at least 302k miles, and probably closer to 400k. I'm still trying to figure out how the timing belt lasted 200k. I could rip it with my bare hands.

With all that behind me... she runs again, and sounds great!

 

Glad all is good now.