Or you could buy both, replace the one that's bad, and keep the other under
the back seat. That way, if it breaks on a long trip, at least you've got
the part handy!

At 10:43 AM 5/16/2006 -0700, mark drillock wrote:
>I'm with Sam. The clutch slave cylinder lives in a completely different
>and harsher environment than the clutch master cylinder does. There is
>no reason to expect the part with a cushy life to wear out at the same
>rate as the one exposed to engine heat and outside moisture. That said,
>I tend to replace them as a set on Vanagons I intend to keep a long time
>and travel long distances in, unless I know it has already been
>replaced. The slave cylinders fail much more often in my experience.
>
>Mark
>
>Sam Walters wrote:
>
>>Actually, it is the opinion of only some that when one goes the other is
>>sure to follow.
>>
>>As I have posted several times before, I once searched the entire
>>archive for instructions on how to do this job and found folks rather
>>evenly divided over whether replace one or both.  Most of those who say
>>replace both do so on the advice of their mechanics.
>>
>>No one has anything other than anecdotal evidence.  And every time both
>>are changed, it eliminates the possibility that in that van the one that
>>was still good would continue to function just fine for several more
>>years.
>>
>>The replace both position is repeated more often, but I don't think that
>>this means that the alleged underlying factual assertion,  that both
>>fail close to the same time, is actually true.
>>
>>I have changed out 6 slaves in my years of Vanagon ownership but never a
>>master.  Others have reported only having master cylinders fail. ....