Clutch cylinder issue

First things first I’d like to acknowledge how helpful this forum has been to me with over dozens of questions someone has already asked and answered. I figured it was time I finally join in on the fun. Many thanks to all who make this site the way it is.

Now the nitty gritty. I have an ‘02 sport with a 4.0L and I believe the NV3550 5 speed manual. Last month without warning my clutch slave cylinder went bad. I was able to drive an hour and half home by using the starter motor then floating the gears. I ordered a whole assembly from autozone and was quite impressed with the metal vs stock plastic construction. Replaced everything within 30 minutes. Drove perfectly over 1k miles since with no issue.

Just over the last few days I’ve noticed that when I depress the clutch pedal there’s a noticeable click sound and feeling as if it’s being interrupted. This only happens about 50% of the time. Well I made it home from work today safely but knew something felt off, so I played around with the pedal. I realized that I have the same issue I had before, that the slave cylinder (so I believe) is bad since when I have the jeep running, depress the clutch, and try to put it into gear it won’t engage.

Please help me out I’m confused and downright frustrated thinking I had solved the problem. Maybe it’s a different problem, maybe I’m not doing something properly, maybe it was just a faulty part. I’d like to try and remove the slave cylinder from the line and play around with it if possible and I would also like some guidance in how to do this properly. Looks like I have to work a pin out of a hole to remove it or I just simply disconnect the line.

Any help is greatly appreciated here and I apologize in advance if this question has been answered before but I looked around for a bit and found nothing. Pics are of the slave cylinder after I removed it to have a look at what was going on.

TJ4Jim said:

Well since everything looks to be coated with fluid it would be fair to say something is no longer sealing, have you checked the fluid level.

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Yes. It was full. I forgot to mention that I opened the bleed valve to check for air which is why it’s oily and it’s also wet from rain.

03coloradowrangler said:

not sure to answer your direct issue with the clicking, but I can confirm I have had clicking and the intermittent sense of something binding then clicking when pressing the clutch since replacing the clutch master and slave on my NV3550.

some days mine is silent other days I might get a click or two. I would advise against disassembling the master/slave, it doesn't appear fun to bench bleed from what I remember.

I have since had my transmission off, lubed moving parts looked things over and I couldn't pinpoint anything abnormal. the clicking noise and binding sensation has decreased over time though.

I did find at one point the shaft diameter going into the slave cylinder was a bit tight for the clutch interlock switch and would bind then make a snap noise when pushing the pedal

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Thank you for your input. I’m reading that low transmission fluid could be a culprit and I’m not sure where the level on it is currently.

Ticks said:

I've had more issues with metal slaves and masters then plastic. The fluid gets contaminated pretty fast from wear. I use oem pre-bled kits "plastic" and they have a really long service life.
Anyways, I've seen cracked forks make noise and fail to disengage the pressure plate.

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Hmm interesting. I don’t know the full service history but is it possible that this issue is with the clutch itself? I hate to think this as I don’t have access to a work space at the moment.

Ticks said:

Can you have someone operate the clutch pedal while you observe the fork travel to confirm if the hydraulic system is pushing the fork?
Engine doesn't need to be running for this if you didn't know.

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Nah I’m green when it comes to working with the transmission which leads to this question. Am I able to watch the fork through the little gap in the bell housing?

Ticks said:

Yes you can see it with some neck twisting

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I’ll see if I can make that happen.