Manual transmissions came stock on the 1997 Eclipse which means a third pedal under your feet: the clutch. It operates by moving the gears away from the drive shaft on the engine so that they can be changed up or down. The system works with hydraulic cylinders, and if one of them isn't working, the system loses pressure and gear shifting becomes much more of an adventure than any safe driver would want. The Eclipse doesn't have chronic issues with the slave cylinder, but its location under the car does make it more susceptible to damage and corrosion.
Disconnect the negative battery cable under the hood. The cable should be black.
Locate the slave cylinder on the side of the transmission under the car. It should look like an L-shaped cylinder with a little rod pushing into one end, and a hose coming out of the other.
Squeeze the hose clamp that connects the fluid line to the slave cylinder and disconnect it, letting the fluid drain into a plastic or glass container.
Use a wrench to unscrew the two bolts that fasten the cylinder to the transmission, and pull the cylinder off. The push rod should come loose when the cylinder is removed.
Fasten the new cylinder in the same position using the same bolts.
Place some all-purpose-grease where the push rod pushes the plunger on the cylinder and put the end of the push rod back in place. It should go in the same location as the rod was in the old cylinder and fit into a little pocket on the end of the plunger.
Attach the hose using the same clamp taking care to get the hose pushed as far down on the port as possible.
Fill the system with Dot 3 brake/clutch fluid. The fluid reservoir is located under the hood and should look like a white cup with a rubber lid. Be sure that it says "clutch" on it and not "brake," because the two reservoirs look similar.
Have someone sit in the car and depress the clutch a couple of times holding it down on the last time.
Loosen the bleeder valve on the slave cylinder slowly while the clutch is depressed. Some air bubbles should come out at first. Close it as soon as a stream starts to come out.
Fill the valve reservoir again and repeat the steps until there are no air bubbles coming out when the bleeder valve is opened.
