[jhv48]

So, just how long does it take to boil the hydraulic fluid?

Just sitting and idling with no air circulating in the engine compartment is more than enough time to boil the fluid. The headers can reach temps much greater than the boiling point of most brake fluids if not shielded from radiating their heat directly onto a metal hydraulic line. Shoot a laser temp gauge directly onto the line after the car has been idling for ten minutes and see what the exterior temp reads. You may be surprised.

And, once the fluid is boiling, your clutch becomes useless until the fan comes on and blows some air on the lines to reduce the temp or you take the car for a drive and the air circulating around the engine brings the temp down.

That's why so many of these cars have troubles when stuck in traffic but operate fine once on the hiway.

Don't rule out the m/c just yet either.