acceleration junky

Whats up. My clutch fluid is really dark with black **** at the top. I can smell something that smells like burnt plastic after I drive my car or let it run for a while. I know that Im cooking the fluid because I have FLP LT headers and no heat protection for the hydro line. Or the smell is me slipping and burning my clutch. I have classic worn clutch symptoms (slips with low rpm and heavy throttle) My master cylinder isnt leaking and my resevoir hasnt lost any fluid but its black. I havent noticed any difference in the clutch peddle, its still like a bear trap, just how I like it. My slave cylinder has less than 1k miles on it and I dont see any leaks from that rectangular peep hole. So, can hydro fluid be responsible for a slipping clutch? It seems to slip more after its warmed up and I have driven around. If I drive 3 miles, it will slip once or twice, but if I drive 10 miles I can barely get my clutch to engage without slipping. And here's a real newb question: Should I leave that black rubber thing inside my master cylinder resevoir? And what is its purpose?

crainholio

iTrader: (2)

Unless the fluid is leaking onto the clutch, it's not possible for it to be causing your clutch slippage.

The hydraulics function to disengage the clutch from the flywheel, they serve no purpose in keeping it engaged...that's done by mechanical spring pressure and friction.

If the black rubber thing in your MC is that big rubber filler, yes you want it in there. It seals the cap to the reservoir, fills the air gap so the fluid can't slosh away from the bottom hole, and might even play a role in creating negative pressure on the master cyl...as fluid is drawn from the reservoir, the rubber seal doesn't allow air to replace the "lost" fluid.