Hello Motoring Wizards,

On longer drives, my 06 S JCW (60k miles) becomes more and more difficult to shift once heat soaked, suggesting that my slave cylinder might need to be bled or that some piece of my clutch assembly (possibly throw out bearing) is getting towards its end of life. Have any of you experienced and addressed these symptoms?

Secondly, I've noticed that I have a slow but steady oil leak over the passenger inner CV Joint which is making an impressive mess. I've suspected rear main seal but is it potentially something else that is known to leak in this area and is less of a major teardown?

Love this car! Thanks in advance!

 

cool slicktop!

in my experience that symptom was a disintegrating throw out bearing which ultimately exploded itself, my bellhousing was gnarly

for the oil leak i would clean everything up nice & spotless, then re-inspect to hopefully find the source

 

I dealt with a similar issue as what you described - "harder to shift when hot"
Although, I hadn't experienced any difference in the feel at the clutch pedal - What I soon discovered, part of my problem was worn out bushings on the shift weight. Once replaced; the "hard to shift when hot" symptoms were solved....However only momentarily - As it turned out the real problem was internal to the transmission. The indy shop that initially replaced my clutch neglected to add enough oil back into the trans....which ultimately starved the transmission and caused the gear shift carrier to break.
Not to suggest that's your issue. You did mention an oil leak...
A common oil leak over the passenger CV might be from the oil filter housing/oil cooler.

 

Does the clutch pedal feel "crunchy" at all, or are you hearing any chatter that goes away once you press the clutch? If "no," my initial thought would be the shift weight issue like Here2Go described. I think Way sells a replacement kit or I'm sure you can get it from ECS, FCP, etc.

Edit: Regarding the oil leak, if you're in the U.S., wouldn't a leak over the passenger axle correspond more with the "front" seal behind the crank pulley? That would certainly be less invasive to fix than the rear main seal, but I agree with cleaning everything up and reevaluating. My money would be on the oil filter housing also.