clutch cylinders help please!

[orangecurry]

I've done a search but failed to find anything recent.

1989 325i

My clutch fluid has gone and left no note - my only excuse is that an internal coating of gunge made me think fluid was at the correct level.

I would imagine I should either

a) dismantle, clean and reseal

OR

b) replace master and slave - where/what are the best quality items please? Manufacturer? And which ones to avoid?

New or reseal - what is the advice please?

Thanks

[Brianmoooore]

The basic problem is that RH drive E30s use a separate reservoir for the clutch fluid, unlike LH drive cars where it shares with the brake fluid, and so the fluid has probably been there since the car was made, rather than regularly getting changed with the brake fluid.
The fluid will have absorbed water over the years, so the chances are that the cylinder bores are corroded, as well as the seals having dissolved - the layer of gunge you referred to.
Two new cylinders is my recommendation.

[Scotty200]

I would replace both master and slave cylinder together as recommended on the wiki, I myself used febi for both cylinders, they are German made I believe and not stupid expensive, they can be easily found on ebay

[orangecurry]

Thanks both - I've used Febi parts before so am happy with their quality.

[Contours]

I installed a Topran master cylinder recently and it lasted for 500 miles. Pedal return was slow so seemingly the seals had swollen making it worse than the original master cylinder I had taken out.

[orangecurry]

top info on cheap parts - thanks for posting