So I was crawling under my Vanagon a couple days ago, with flashlight.  Noticed fluid weeping at Clutch Slave Cylinder.  Nothing at all on the ground.  Around 12 years ago on a cross-country roadtrip, started having difficult shifting.  But no fluid on the ground back then either.  The failure was the Clutch Slave Cylinder, and apparently the rubber boot was doing a pretty good job of preventing drips on the concrete so I didn't notice.  Being older and wiser, my instincts seem to point toward replacing that Slave Cylinder NOW while it is easy on home turf.  It will not fix itself.  And, probably Master Cylinder too....a stronger newer one tends to blow out the weaker older one in the hydraulic chain.  The fix back 12 years ago cost me a few bucks in Rochester New York, not to mention a night in a motel, and a lot of aggravation.  

Comments?  Advice?  I want my vanagon to be ready at a moment's notice to effortlessly travel 10,000+ miles.  It's an 85 tintop, with 283,000 miles on chassis, and about 60,000 miles on a Subie 2.2 motor.  Funny, it's all those little "links" that also have to be just as fine as that superb Japanese motor.

Rich
San Diego