Because my slave cylinder failed at the exact time I was taking my car in to have a wheel bearing fixed, I had the shop repair the slave.

Of course, the master quickly went thereafter and the hose to the slave sprung a leak. (did the slave really fail? I think so but now am not so sure). Didn't have time to fix the master so it gets towed to the shop.

First, they don't get to the car all day despite numerous calls from me - so I go two days without the car. Then, when I picked it up last night, the clutch pedal is inches higher than before with the pickup point near the top. I tell the tech and he "adjusts" it. Still the same. Then we discuss bleeding the clutch and I basically figure out he's clueless.

So, I take the car but tell them I'm bringing it back on the weekend. Well, I start driving today and - voila - clutch slips when I nail it in 3rd. No problem before cylinder changes so must be the hydrualics. I guess, whatever is causing the clutch pedal to be off (probably not bled properly?) is causing the slave to improperly engage the clutch fork, so clutch is not fully engaging flywheel.

Take it to another branch of the same shop - and they try to tell me its the clutch without ever looking. Clutch is heavy duty - and I changed it about a year ago. 15k miles on it and VERY little abuse.

I'm waiting to hear from them but if I had no clue how my car worked, I'd probably be paying for a new clutch now. I'm disgusted enough that I had to pay them to change the slave and master but that really ticked me off.

/end rant.

 

short answer: clutch not properly bled, air in slave cyl.