‘01 Windshield Seal Leak

Got in my truck today and felt a drip of water fall onto my hand. I looked up and at the corner of the windshield I felt a wet spot.If you look at the corner of my windshield, there is a gap in the seal. Not sure how that happened... age? I haven’t noticed a leak before, and it looks like a clean break. Does the whole seal need to be replaced all around? Can it be patched with caulk or something?

 

That’s weird, has the windshield been replaced at some point ? either way I would just clean the area real good and fill the gap with black silicone

 

I have this on hand, would this work?

 

Just make sure you don’t create a dam anywhere along the top. Keep in mind those roof trims drain into the rubber window trim. Might be a good idea to remove the shrunken trim piece, clean out the groove to be caulked and then caulk it across the top. Wait until the caulk dries before reinstalling trim.

Slippery slopes start when a dam is created.

 

That’s a gasket maker material, I don’t think that would work , more like the black silicone to seal windows like the one you get at Home Depot. Like the previous post said caulking material.

 

Butyl Caulking is what the Glass Installers use.

 

Windshields are bonded to the frame with urethane. Butyl is used for plastic headlights, it will not bond glass to metal.
Urethane is expensive and once opened has a shelf life of 90 days.

If you are just filling in a small void, silicon is fine. If you want to reseal the whole windshield ( the correct way to fix the leak ) take off all the molding...prep the surface with primer and urethane it. Be aware that a regular calk gun will not work, you need the urethane calk gun that will actually fir the tube which adds to the cost to repair correctly.

I would silicon it.

 

Thank you. I meant Urethane, but typed Butyl.

I’d use some FuzeIt by Liquid Nails. $8 a tube. Tape off a line after doing the clean/prep and go to go.

 

I would just give a warning: Unless I'm not understanding what I've seen every time I've had a windshield replaced, Glass installer removes the old windshield, cleans up any rusty or pitted sections, then lays down black urethane adhesive sealant, then drops the windshield on. The urethane adhesive is supposed to seal the windshield perimeter. If you're seeing water leak by, it's probably because you've had water sitting in that spot and it's corroded, and is now able to leak past.

If you're not popping off the windshield to clean and re-seal, you need to do two things: You need to use a flowable silicone in that spot, and you should probably replace that upper seal to help keep water from even getting the chance to flow down in there.

Look up Permatex 81730-1. Get a tube. It's what you'll want to use. Flowable silicone will work its way down into the seam and seal it up.

You DO NOT want to use standard silicone products on painted steel unless they say they're "paint safe" or "automotive safe". They will cause corrosion and rust. Either because they contain ammonia or cause an acidic reaction.

 

So it seemed like a pro job to do, so I ended up taking it to a body shop. They said the missing mounding won’t cause a leak, but the polyurethane seal will. They quoted me $150 to reseal my windshield, $60 to replace the moulding, and $200 for a new windshield (there’s a crack in the current one) so about $410 for everything.


The thing is that they did a bunch of test like blasting air, pressurized water, and other methods to detect leak but couldn’t reproduce the leak.

I’m down to pay the $410 just to get that stuff dealt wit just prevent any future pains, but I am scared that it won’t fix the leak if it’s coming from somewhere else. Any thoughts on where the leak might also come from?

 

I wish you could still get new OEM windshields. I'd really like to replace mine so I don't need to cerium-oxide our the fine scratches caused by the PO not changing wipers frequently enough during 12-13 years of daily dirt-road driving, but I really want to be a snob about it and get OEM glass.

I have no rock chips, no scratches, no cracks in my OEM windshield. Just typical cheapskate behavior on the wipers. His mechanical maintenance was A+ though.

 

Nice. I was going to suggest a new shield depending on the age, but wasn’t sure how much you wanted to spend. You’ll have a warranty if the leak comes back.

 

I checked last year and Safelite could get the OEM for $1200 installed. I chose the $365 option installed in my driveway.

 

whats the benefits of oem glass?

 

None
There are only a handful of glass manufactures. They will then re brand (White-label) the glass for the auto OEM.
The glass manufactures all bid for the "OEM" when the vehicles are being created, you will notice that sometimes the band of the glass will change thru a production run likely due to contracting or quality issues.

OEM just means you get to pay the Toyota markup since their logo is also in the glass.

aftermarket I'd suggest getting a Pilkington band, they always seem to have the best fit and finish.
Its been a few years since I was in the glass business tho.

Based on your picture above it looks like your windshield has been replaced before, you don't get that much urethane squish from a factory set windshield. Which then leads me to believe since it just started leaking is likely caused by some rust formed in the pinch-weld allowing water under the urethane bead, OR the urethane bond to the windshield has failed which would be much more serious.

*Note the black trim you see on the outside is just cosmetic, it can be removed and would have 0 impact on the "seal" of your windshield, the urethane (visible on your interior picture) is what seals and bonds the windshield to the car.

See above, but also if you have a sunroof its possible the drain in plugged and overflowing into the cab, then following the roof line down to the windshield.

 

Would that pinchweld be visible once they remove the windshield and sealant? A part of me was thinking that once they remove everything, they may see possible rust and be able to take care of it while they are in there

 

Yes, the pinchweld is the piece of metal that the urethane on bonds to on the truck side, so when you pull the windshield you can see the pinchweld.
My guess is rust based on the age of the vehicle, if the rust is too bad you could be looking at body work FYI.
410 Seems high for a new windshield, i would get comparative quotes from other glass shops. They should be able to deal with minor rust caused bonding issues, if the rust is too bad then you might need to get it to a body shop.

 

Yeah I know it’s high, especially since I just looked at safelite’s website. They are actually a body shop, so hopefully with me paying this much they toss me a bone if they do see something minor, plus they are replacing the moulding as well. I know that’s wishful thinking, but they already got my truck and I okayed the work.

 

Well, just an update. They pulled the windshield and seal and found that the previous glass installers didn’t prime the gouges they made when they cut the old glass off, which rusted and caused corrosion.

My shop cleaned it, primed it, rust proofed it and made it so that she won’t leak again. The best part was they dropped the price to $360 which includes a new moulding all the way around.

 

I was actually wondering about this. There was the $150 charge to "reseal the windshield", but if they install a new windshield, it needs to be re-sealed during install anyway, so ... that charge didn't make any sense to me. $200 for the glass, $60 to replace the trim or molding, plus maybe $100 for labor on install make more sense to me.

Sounds like you got a good deal, and you'll be good to go for another decade or two once they're done.

I had a similar issue with the last truck, a late 90s model. Swapped out the OEM windshield. no gauges, but plenty of rust around the edges. Installer had a rapid-cure rust sealing paint he used after sanding and treating the corrosion. Windshield was leaking from both upper corners prior to swap.

 

Its unlikely to include new molding on the sides, those are just screwed in to the A pillar. If they did replace those trim pieces i'd be impressed as they are probably $50+/- each side. There is no reason to replace them however yours look fine just a bit faded from age.

Sounds like they are treating you right and doing the right fixes tho, treating the rust should include grinding out the damaged metal until they get to bare clean metal, treating that with an acid etching, and then priming the prepped metal. I doubt they would then paint it being that it is unexposed under the windshield, and the urethane should bond to the primer fine.