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Old 07-06-2017, 10:27 AM   #1
The_Magistrate
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Exclamation 2015 WRX clutch master cylinder leak

Just a heads-up for 2015+ WRX owners out there - on July 4th while driving, my clutch pedal went to the floor and wouldn't come back up. Shortly before it happened I noticed a click noise when pushing the pedal to the floor.

After pulling over, doing some research, and looking around in the engine bay, I noticed there was fluid coming from under the clutch master cylinder. Seems like the seal on the bottom failed and started leaking. I had the car towed to the dealership and they confirmed the failure of the clutch master cylinder seal.

Gonna be without my ride for another day. I wasn't able to find any posts about this happening on the 2015+ models, so I'm posting about it so people keep an eye out. My car only has 26k miles, so a very unusual for it to fail so soon.
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Old 07-06-2017, 10:42 AM   #2
mklausen117
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Thanks for the update. I currently have 71K on my '15 and havent experienced this. Update us once you get the rest of the information from the dealer. GL
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Old 07-06-2017, 12:43 PM   #3
mishapopa
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well that's a ****ty thing to fail...
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Old 07-12-2017, 05:43 PM   #4
wrxlaunch
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Mine went out as well. Covered under warranty of course...
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Old 03-13-2018, 10:47 AM   #5
nelly_b
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Default Master cylinder leaking

I had my Subaru 2015 since end of October 2017 . Purchased the car used and this just happened to me last week . Bought extended warranty and clutch components not covered . Could this be a defective part . I really don’t want to pay for the repair myself dealership only gave me 3 months or 3000 miles warranty ... Smh . And the car only has 21000 miles on it ..

Last edited by nelly_b; 03-13-2018 at 12:58 PM.
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Old 03-13-2018, 10:58 AM   #6
nelly_b
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Default Master cylinder leaking

Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Magistrate View Post
Just a heads-up for 2015+ WRX owners out there - on July 4th while driving, my clutch pedal went to the floor and wouldn't come back up. Shortly before it happened I noticed a click noise when pushing the pedal to the floor.

After pulling over, doing some research, and looking around in the engine bay, I noticed there was fluid coming from under the clutch master cylinder. Seems like the seal on the bottom failed and started leaking. I had the car towed to the dealership and they confirmed the failure of the clutch master cylinder seal.

Gonna be without my ride for another day. I wasn't able to find any posts about this happening on the 2015+ models, so I'm posting about it so people keep an eye out. My car only has 26k miles, so a very unusual for it to fail so soon.
Did you purchase your car brand new and did warranty cover that ? Same thing happened to me and my car only has 21000 miles . And dealership warranty expired after 3 months .
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Old 03-13-2018, 12:53 PM   #7
Charlie-III
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nelly_b View Post
I had my Subaru 2015 since end of October 2017 . Purchased the car used and this just happened to me last week . Bought extended warranty and clutch components not covered . Could this be a defective part . I really don’t want to pay for the repair myself dealership only gave me 3 months or 3000 miles warranty ... Smh . And the car only has 21000 miles on it . The blame is on me that I broke the clutch .
Typically, "clutch components not covered" means flywheel, friction disc, pressure plate and ToB.
Check with the warranty holder, hydraulics may be covered as a "non wear item".
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Old 03-13-2018, 01:57 PM   #8
nelly_b
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Thank you , will do .
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Old 05-23-2018, 02:03 PM   #9
zr750
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Magistrate View Post
Just a heads-up for 2015+ WRX owners out there - on July 4th while driving, my clutch pedal went to the floor and wouldn't come back up. Shortly before it happened I noticed a click noise when pushing the pedal to the floor.
..............
I have a 2017 Premium and had the exact same thing happen this morning. I had been hearing a click in the clutch pedal and then this morning got in the car and the pedal went to the floor and stayed there. I saw fluid had leaked from the clutch master cylinder so I suspect it is the same issue.
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Old 07-31-2018, 02:25 PM   #10
wrxneny
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Default Possible leak pre-pedal failure

2015 wrx, purchased new, 45k. I've noticed a "clutch burn" type of smell after sustained high speed highway driving for past couple thousand miles. Now I'm getting a very small amount of fluid leak, just a few drops, after this type of driving. Neither smell nor leak occurs in short trip (10-12 mi.) local driving, and despite a lot more clutching per trip. No pedal failure yet, and pedal play is still within normal limits.
Is this an earlier stage of the seal leak you're describing? Thanks for any insight on this.
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Old 07-31-2018, 02:48 PM   #11
Charlie-III
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wrxneny View Post
2015 wrx, purchased new, 45k. I've noticed a "clutch burn" type of smell after sustained high speed highway driving for past couple thousand miles. Now I'm getting a very small amount of fluid leak, just a few drops, after this type of driving. Neither smell nor leak occurs in short trip (10-12 mi.) local driving, and despite a lot more clutching per trip. No pedal failure yet, and pedal play is still within normal limits.
Is this an earlier stage of the seal leak you're describing? Thanks for any insight on this.
Ummmmm....my guess.....No!
The pressure plate clamps the friction disc. A failed clutch release (cable or hydraulic) has NO bearing on pressure clamping force.
Fluid leak from a hydraulic clutch is about 99.9% outside the clamping surface.

Maybe you have a dragging caliper?
My test is......I have a local highway, couple miles leading into a long uphill. Run the speed to as high as legal (maybe a bit more....), near the top of the hil, coast to a stop.
Park car, get out, feel center of each wheel. They should all be about same temp. A warm/hot wheel is likely a dragging brake.
Fix it.
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Old 09-22-2018, 12:58 PM   #12
dgottsche15wrx
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Default Clutch master cylinder leak

Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Magistrate View Post
Just a heads-up for 2015+ WRX owners out there - on July 4th while driving, my clutch pedal went to the floor and wouldn't come back up. Shortly before it happened I noticed a click noise when pushing the pedal to the floor.

After pulling over, doing some research, and looking around in the engine bay, I noticed there was fluid coming from under the clutch master cylinder. Seems like the seal on the bottom failed and started leaking. I had the car towed to the dealership and they confirmed the failure of the clutch master cylinder seal.

Gonna be without my ride for another day. I wasn't able to find any posts about this happening on the 2015+ models, so I'm posting about it so people keep an eye out. My car only has 26k miles, so a very unusual for it to fail so soon.

Just wondering if you found a fix for this. I've been having this issue with my 15 wrx for a few months and I've had the clutch master cylinder replaced twice. My clutch is very stiff and right before the master cylinder malfunctions I hear the same clicking sound when I depress the clutch
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Old 09-22-2018, 01:01 PM   #13
dgottsche15wrx
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Default Clutch master cylinder leak

Quote:
Originally Posted by zr750 View Post
I have a 2017 Premium and had the exact same thing happen this morning. I had been hearing a click in the clutch pedal and then this morning got in the car and the pedal went to the floor and stayed there. I saw fluid had leaked from the clutch master cylinder so I suspect it is the same issue.
Did you find a fix for this? I had my clutch master cylinder replaced once and then the same thing happened a few months later so I suspect it's something else
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Old 09-24-2018, 09:34 PM   #14
wrxneny
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wrxneny View Post
2015 wrx, purchased new, 45k. I've noticed a "clutch burn" type of smell after sustained high speed highway driving for past couple thousand miles. Now I'm getting a very small amount of fluid leak, just a few drops, after this type of driving. Neither smell nor leak occurs in short trip (10-12 mi.) local driving, and despite a lot more clutching per trip. No pedal failure yet, and pedal play is still within normal limits.
Is this an earlier stage of the seal leak you're describing? Thanks for any insight on this.
Charlie-III: Thanks for your hill/heat test suggestion; no wheel was warm, so your advice lead me back to the drawing board. Turns out the fluid was not brake/clutch, just a very small amount of engine oil below left and right heads. Presented issue to dealer under engine/power train warranty; tech found that both the left cam carrier and front timing covers were leaking. Dealer pulled the engine and resealed both, replaced o rings and gaskets, etc. at no cost. Still have 14K/10 mos to see if repair holds. I appreciate your quick response. I probably should post this on a more relevant discussion thread.
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Old 07-01-2019, 10:51 AM   #15
KalamazooSaabaru
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Default 2017 wrx base failed clutch master cylinder

Rezzing a dead thread to add my failure: 2017 wrx base, also had my clutch master cylinder go out while driving ~45mph going from 3rd to 4th.

I bought the car used less than 1000 miles ago, so if the previous owner screwed it up I'm fine with covering it, I got a decent deal on the car and with that many miles I expected something to pop up, despite a clean maintenance history.

The car has 49k miles, Subaru says it isn't under warranty because the part wasn't defective. I asked what the cause of failure was, and was told that the service center never provided a reason for the failure, simply said that they wouldn't cover it.

My issue here is, I thought that Subaru would cover the part and repair if a defective part caused the problem, but I have no idea whether the part is defective or not. If this just "wears out" every two years I'm going to have some serious issues since this left me stranded. Anyone have any input? Is there something I or the previous owner could have done to dramatically reduce the life of this part or is it more likely that the service center just doesn't want to work for warranty rate?
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Old 07-29-2019, 04:15 PM   #16
Gizzaw
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dgottsche15wrx View Post
Just wondering if you found a fix for this. I've been having this issue with my 15 wrx for a few months and I've had the clutch master cylinder replaced twice. My clutch is very stiff and right before the master cylinder malfunctions I hear the same clicking sound when I depress the clutch
Just happened to me about 4 hours ago on a 2015 wrx. sitting at 62xxx miles so im outside of any type of warranty. I really hope this doesn't become a chronic issue like yours. No previous issue other than Throw out bearing covered under warranty and when i do the carwash my clutch seems to chatter and act weird (no idea why).

Got the part coming in Wednesday and my local dealer wanted 205 so screw it I ordered then i realized subaru parts warehouse (also a dealership) sells for 97 online but the list is 145.

So my local MattSlap Subaru is a bit of a ripoff ****tard so ill being going in there to have a word with them. He told me there was only 2 in the entire country on his computer yet the lady told me she has 153 in stock nationwide.

So **** that guy and **** Mattslap subaru in delaware.

Anyway i got the intercooler off and its unhooked from the pedal so when i get done the swap ill swing back in and let ya know how it went.
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Old 08-05-2019, 03:06 PM   #17
ericsson
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Magistrate View Post
Just a heads-up for 2015+ WRX owners out there - on July 4th while driving, my clutch pedal went to the floor and wouldn't come back up. Shortly before it happened I noticed a click noise when pushing the pedal to the floor.

After pulling over, doing some research, and looking around in the engine bay, I noticed there was fluid coming from under the clutch master cylinder. Seems like the seal on the bottom failed and started leaking. I had the car towed to the dealership and they confirmed the failure of the clutch master cylinder seal.

Gonna be without my ride for another day. I wasn't able to find any posts about this happening on the 2015+ models, so I'm posting about it so people keep an eye out. My car only has 26k miles, so a very unusual for it to fail so soon.
I have a 2013 STI. A similar issue happened to me, but slightly different. I break down the time line:

-@5k miles 4th gear synchro failed. Warranty denied by all local dealerships.
-@ 39k miles engine failed. Short block replaced covered by Subaru. I had to pay 50% of cost due to mods to the engine. Such as intake, down-pipe, and tune. Oddly enough, at this time, Subaru decided to approve to have transmission repaired. They covered 100% of the transmission repairs. I decided to throw in an Exedy Stage 1 Heavy Duty Organic Disc Clutch Kit (Part EXE 15803HD). I signed an affidavit stating dealership would NOT be responsible for clutch issues.
-@65k miles clutch peddal started to squeak.
-@67k miles clutch master / slave cylinders failed. Both were replaced by Subaru dealership (March 2019).
-@69k miles master / slave cylinder failed AGAIN (August 2019). I dropped it off this morning to have it repaired. Service rep / mechanic TRIED to blame my aftermarket clutch. After some back and forth, service manager agreed to repair it as Warranty claim. They said they won't replace it again.

I called Exedy Global Parts today and spoke to one of the techs (Evan). He said most mechanics never bother to ADJUST the master / slave cylinder. He stated it's very UNLIKELY the clutch blew out the master / slave cylinder. He added that it's necessary to make sure 1st gear engagement happens @ 2 inches from the floor. If it's more or less, there will be "over-stroking" of the master cylinder and this causes the master cylinder to fail, leak, blow up.

The tech told me to find this video that talks about adjusting the master cylinder. I have been looking for service manual info about this, but have had no luck. He said the video is for a BRZ clutch, but it's the same process for STI.

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Old 09-20-2019, 03:16 PM   #18
Lastshot123
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Default Same thing 2017 WRX

Same thing happened to me today at 48k miles. Dealership says part failure and I am waiting to hear back on cost of parts and labor. They said not under warranty, but nothing we could have done to prevent it. Wondering if anyone had this fixed under powertrain warranty or if Subaru has found this part to be defective.
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Old 01-06-2020, 11:19 PM   #19
rgrigore
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Default Same issue 2015 sti

It happened to me last night. I pulled in the driveway with the 1st gear, pressed the clutch to disengage and put in neutral. The clutch pedal just refused to get back on position. I towed the car to the dealership. The service guy comes to see me saying that the master cylinder gave up and it costs me $490 just for the part. I told him the car has warranty up to 75.000 miles and he ran the system. 20 mins later he got back to me saying that it is all going to be covered but I will have to pay $100 for labor. I hope it won't happen again...
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Old 02-14-2020, 11:56 AM   #20
robway
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Bought a 2017 WRX Premium brand new, clutch master cylinder failed (leaking out of bottom seal) at 40640 miles. 4 hours from home towed to a local Subaru dealer and the master cylinder was replaced.

56104 miles the part failed again close to home, towed to my local Subaru dealer waiting to be repaired.

Just felt compelled to add my history to the thread.
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Old 07-13-2020, 10:53 AM   #21
Subject23
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I had to replace mine recently. Thought it was because of added stiffness from installing a stage 1 excedy clutch kit (might still be?). But it failed on me again recently and I had it replaced just last year.

Still wondering if it's a design flaw, maybe I'm doing something wrong, or it just needs some adjusting.

2016 wrx sti
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Old 07-13-2020, 11:17 AM   #22
Yogrowma
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Subject23 View Post
I had to replace mine recently. Thought it was because of added stiffness from installing a stage 1 excedy clutch kit (might still be?). But it failed on me again recently and I had it replaced just last year.

Still wondering if it's a design flaw, maybe I'm doing something wrong, or it just needs some adjusting.

2016 wrx sti
Sorry to hear. Do sti and wrx share the exact same component? Seems like this is encroaching on TSB territory
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Old 07-05-2021, 02:49 PM   #23
ZoopWRX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Magistrate

Just a heads-up for 2015+ WRX owners out there - on July 4th while driving, my clutch pedal went to the floor and wouldn't come back up. Shortly before it happened I noticed a click noise when pushing the pedal to the floor.

After pulling over, doing some research, and looking around in the engine bay, I noticed there was fluid coming from under the clutch master cylinder. Seems like the seal on the bottom failed and started leaking. I had the car towed to the dealership and they confirmed the failure of the clutch master cylinder seal.

Gonna be without my ride for another day. I wasn't able to find any posts about this happening on the 2015+ models, so I'm posting about it so people keep an eye out. My car only has 26k miles, so a very unusual for it to fail so soon.

Had the exact thing happen to me on my 2016 WRX on July 3rd, with clicking sound heard before then clutch pedal stuck to floor at a red light in the middle lane of traffic. ~ 70k kms on her.

Not a fun failure to have on the road... seems like a very poor component unless we're all using the clutch wrong

Anyone get a cause from their service techs?
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Old 11-30-2021, 05:28 PM   #24
Nerdelectric
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Add another one to the list! 2015 WRX Premium, 66k miles on the clock, clutch pedal stuck to the floor the Monday evening before Thanksgiving. Clutch master cylinder blew it's seal.

The car has the original clutch, but I did install the Perrin pitch stop brace, which includes a braided stainless clutch hose, and eliminates the factory damper on the hydraulic line. I am the 2nd owner, and I bought it 4 years ago with 36k miles completely stock. I have fun with her, but I also try to baby her when I can, and do tons of preventative maintenance. I even change my brake/clutch fluid every two years with Valvoline Dot 3/4. I never do things like drop the clutch or slam gears, but I don't drive like a granny either. I can say that the fluid level didn't gradually drop (I check fluids often), rather this was a more sudden failure.

This was a bad time for this to go out, so I paid a bit for a tow and to have a mechanic do the work instead of doing it myself. My secondary vehicles are only good for summer time, so I needed it done quick. They had it done that Wednesday afternoon, and I can't find any faults with their work, so I'm happy-ish.
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