Hi all, I have a 95 Saturn Wagon (SW2) manual with 60k miles. I am the 2nd owner, with the last 15k miles put on by me -- all highway. I was in San Francisco last week and got stuck in a line of traffic up a couple of the horrendously steep hills. As I was in traffic, I was doing a lot of stopping and starting and "balancing" on the hill using the clutch. The engine fan came on after a while, and then I smelled some smoke. Finally I could pull over and definitely saw some smoke. Some investigation led me to the clutch hydraulic fluid (rear right, near the coolant). Obviously it had heated up to the point of smoking. So I let the car cool for about 30 minutes, swore at myself, then proceeded to drive gently. I didn't notice any difference in the feeling of the clutch (wasn't slipping or mushy). I also checked the level of the hydraulic fluid, which was fine. So my question is this: Did I do any damage? If so, what should I do? Should I replace the clutch hydraulic fluid, since it got so hot? Thanks for your help, Matt.
You sure it wasn't the powersteering fluid reservoir? On the right (passenger side) sounds about right for it. I'm thinking the smoke was maybe oil on the exhaust manifold since you said the fan came on (meaning the engine temp was towards the upper limit). No telling about the clutch - time will tell. I've got 84k on a 97 and I am not the nicest person with my clutch foot... (smile)
Don't worry about it if there are no driveability issues. I don't believe you can just replace the fluid as the system is sealed(no way to bleed it).
