Should have mentioned that I'm relatively new to this so I apologise if my terminology isn't 100% correct 'dabster'. I thought the area round the lever was made up of a fluid reservior and what I thought was called a master cylinder with a circlip, piston and spring inside (which I've changed). It is still stiff so that's why I was thinking the problem could be further down. What is the 'slave' then? Any help would be greatly appreciated as i'm really keen to solve the problem