Am I right in thinking that apart from what the heyes says the 2 systems are the same in a 1989 Rapid?

it seems a little rubber seal on the clutch pedal managed to escape and fluid has leaked from the pipe there. I've popped the rubber seal back on, but I'm gonna have to bleed the system. Anyone got any hints/tips?

:)The brake and clutch hydraulic systems are seperate but fed from the same fluid reservoir.

Is fluid running down the clutch pedal? It normally means the clutch master cylinder seal has failed. Handily the 19mm Mk1 FWD Octavia rear brake cylinder seals fit the Estelle/Rapid clutch master cylinder. Quite good really.....one Octavia wheel cylinder can be used to rebuild 2 Estelle/Rapid clutch master cylinders for roughly a tenner, rather than paying roughly £30 for one clutch cylinder.

yup, fluid weeping down the clutch pedal... from what I can see there's an eyebolt connected to the top of the pedal that the fluid is coming out of... I found a small rubber gasket on the floor that fit round this in a way that suggested it should seal it, is liquid not supposed to get this far down cos I have to admit, it really didn't seem to be too good a seal...

I was planning on renewing all the brake fluid very soon anyway, this seems a good time to do it, I can't find the amount of fluid required mentioned in the haynes either, don't suppose you know the amount?

:)No, fluid shouldn't get down as far as that mate. A litre of DOT 4 fluid should be plenty.

cool... do you think its worth me trying to save time by removing the cylinder and the seal and taking em along to Halfrauds up the road from me and seeing if they've got anything to match... or should I just order an Octavia rear brake cylinder.

well, got the cylinder apart, the rubber seal looks like its in OK condition actually, although I can well believe with this things appearances can be deceptive, also, the hayes manual mentions a circlip at the front of the assembly which there is no sign of at all, this something missing from later models? I seem to recall Halfrauds actually do a small bag of o rings for a couple of quid, I reckon tomorrow I'll get one of them and see if any of them fit IIRC one or two of them look like they should.

When I was buying O rings I decided not to buy the ones from halfords as the little ones in the packets had a warning which said somthing like "not for use in hydraulic or fuel systems" etc etc, which seemed rather peculiar to me given its an automotive store. Instead I got a set of O rings from screwfix. Much cheaper from here though, Toolstation > Multipacks > Multipack last item on the page and I think they do free delivery.

sack it... new Master Cylinder from Jorily was cheap enough... not worth the risk of me putting in an O ring thats gonna get melted by brake fluid for what its worth and I may as well have a spare one

all sorted... new master cyl arrived today, took me 30 mins to fit and bleed the system, all running sweet again