S40 Clutch Slave Cylinder

[JayT78]

This is my first post, so first of all i would like to say Hi!

This is about my girlfriends Volvo S40 2.0se, its a '97 non turbo model.
Last week she was on her way home and it seemed like the clutch had gone it wouldn't change gear, it had been a bit noisy the previous few days.
She found out off the previous owner that the clutch had been changed just over a year ago, so it seemed a bit weird that it had gone so soon after. She was phoning around to get quotes and they seemed to think it wasn't the clutch but the Clutch Slave Cylinder. They were saying that it was in the gearbox so they would have to take that off to get at it. A much bigger job they said, at least £200 in labour alone, and the part was expensive to.

The thing is, according to the Haynes manual we have the non turbo models have the slave cylinder on top of the gearbox instead of inside. The only thing that it says to remove is the air cleaner which is above this part. The Turbo models it says you have to remove the gearbox. I took a picture of what the Haynes manual says is the slave cylinder this morning on my phone.

Is this the right part? and is it possible to change this without removing the gearbox?

She did phone a Volvo place and they said there was a way to check if it was the clutch or not. They said to put it in first gear, and start the car. If it moved then the clutch was ok. We did this and it did move, so does this mean the clutch is ok or not?

Thanks for any help in advance!