My son's 740 turbo sedan apparently has a bad slave cylinder. I have been away for work and returned to hear it is sitting on the street in front of his house.

He reports that the clutch pedal failed to return from a trip to the floorboard and fluid was leaking from the slave.

I can not remember how the slave cylinder is attached to the belling housing and what the access to it is like. Cincinnati has an ordinance against working on cars on the street, but I am trying to avoid a 30 mile tow to my workspace.

Might this be a quick swap out with a new slave cylinder? I guess I am looking for what your collective experiences are.

Thanks,
Randy

Sounds like it could be worse than a slave cylinder. I had the same issue with my 88 740 Turbo. The problem turned out to be the pivot ball inside of the bell housing, had worn through the clutch release arm. I figured this out when I removed and re-assembled the slave cylinder, put it back in with snap ring and bled it. When I stepped on the clutch it blew right back apart. You'll find that there is not a "stop" on the amount of travel of the slave cylinder. The dust boot holds it togather when you install it. The proper operation of the clutch release arm is the only thing that keeps the slave cylinder from blowing apart. When the pivot ball wears through the release arm there is too much slack to hold the slave togather.
Needless to say, the repair requires removal of the transmission. The first time I did mine, I lubed the pivot ball with white grease. After several thousand miles I noticed that every time I stepped on the cluthch it would "creak". This was due to failure of the white grease on the pivot ball. About the same time, I had made up my mind to replace my M-46 overdrive with a M-47 5 speed. When I made the transmission swap I had a second chance to inspect and re-lube the pivot ball/release arm. This time I used anti-seize as lube and it seems to work much better. I'm not sure what Volvo would recommend as lube.
Overall this is not one of their better designs. I think they should have made some provision to allow periodic lube of the pivot ball. You'll probably find that you will have to order the pivot ball and release arm. I got mine from Groton.

Just one rather large snap ring holds it in place but some folks have had a tough time getting it out due to corrosion. Bleading the system is a little tricky because there's very little extra fluid in the clutch part of the brake resevoir. One or two peddle pumps is all you can do before needing to top off the fluid or you start sucking air into the system again.

Is it necessary to pedal bleed it? I have never had to bleed one but I flush it when I flush the brake system.

I just open the bleed valve and let gravity do the work. I had in mind that that approach would work for a dry system as well.

I guess I would know if it didn't work by a "bad" pedal when I went to check it first time??

Randy

Randy, did you get my email about the Rensi floor mats - if you're still interested.

Now back to our normally scheduled programming.....

I sent you an email via the Brickboard system. Please post back if you do not receive it.

Randy

The slave cylinder is held in place by a large snap ring. Access is good.
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john