Windshield Leak

[Larry and Heidi Lee]

05 Beaver Monterey Bayview 4 34 I have had some windshield leakage too. The rubber gasket and glass in the passenger side corner is jutting out from the window frame by about a 1/4". Absolutely clueless on how to fix this I injected some clear silicone into the gap for now. The driver side upper corner seal/glass is sitting flush in the frame but water seeps in somehow. My question is this: Do I clean all surfaces and silicone around the entire rubber gasket/body or is there a "Do it right" answer to this problem? I have windshield insurance and do have a small rock "star"....do I get the glass replaced with a new gasket or am I asking for a real headache?  ??) Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Richard And Babs Ames]

The insurance Company will make it very difficult to replace your gasket unless it is damaged. They will also repair stone chips subject to certain conditions  (not in line of sight and size) and your satisfaction before replacing the windshield.

Your windshield floats in the gasket and adjustment is possible. I have llearned to do it myself with a nylon tool called a "pic". Using a tool like a butter knife or screw driver is not reccomended as the hard metal can cause the windshield to crack as you are working a sharp cut edge of a glass pane.

[Joel Ashley]

Sounds like your gasket is doing the same thing as mine is on the driver's upper corner.  It wants to pop away like a wrinkle from the cap.  May be a inherent thing with short '05-'06 Montereys.   Loren at Bend checked it last year but they didn't do much other than a shot of silicone.  Only experienced leak from it inside once, though, while parked by our house on pad last spring, and coach was at an unusual angle due to air bag leak.  Will have them look at it again more closely the next trip through.  May squeeze some silicone in there myself, but don't think that is a permanent fix.

Had rock chip repaired by local mobile windshield shop in Bend while having other work done at the Service Center, and it was virtually invisible.

[Gerald Farris]

You can reposition the windshield by pulling the expander strip out of the gasket just enough to loosen the windshield in the gasket so it can be moved with suction cups. It is a quick and easy repair for a professional, but it is not a method that I would recommend for you without any experence or tools.


If you want to try to work it back into the gasket and reseal it yourself as Richard described, you will probably have better luck in sealing the windshield if you use one of the professional windshield sealants as they seal so much better than silicone home sealant although they can be very messy to work with.

Gerald

[Joel Ashley]

Gerald-

I think if his is as he described, and acting like mine, the problem isn't with the windshield to gasket, but rather gasket to front cap.  The gasket wants to slightly bulge away from the cutout about 1/4 inch for a few inches just above a top corner, instead of laying down smooth against the cap surface.  This effectively acts to actually gather rain running off the roof and funnel it inside, rather than diverting it aside.

Admittedly, I am not familiar with exactly how things are mounted in there.  My original windshield didn't have the gap problem, but had been mismounted at the factory, and readily cracked while just stored the first winter, so I know there certainly is a trick to the job.  The warranty replacement unit shows no sign of cracking or being stressed, but the gap developed between gasket and cap after a year.  I presume repositioning the entire assembly slightly, however, might resolve the gap problem for both HiLarLee and myself, rather than just throwing sealant in the unsightly gap as we have been.  The one-piece unit is not something I'd want to take on myself, for sure, and experienced techs would more likely know how much to move things and in which direction.

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

My recent experience with windows.  The driver side window shifted to the outside, and the top outside corner came out of the seal.  Eventually the window cracked.  I asked Richard Boatman for a good coach window installer, and he recommended Nick Kroske, B & B Glass, 2115 NE 3rd, Bend, OR.  541-382-7242.  Behind his shop is a covered shed with a stage built into it,  You drive up to the stage and he can work at waist height.  He also works mobile if you wish.  He installed new seals and reset the passenger side glass while he replaced both on the drivers side.  The new glass would not quite fit at the same place it came out before.  Nick took the new glass back into his shop and ground the edge to match the existing hole in the fiberglass.  Now it fits and still looks good 2 months later.  Nick told me he has years of experience and developed a method of replacing the seals in our SE-GI windows and reinstalling the same window with new seals.  He has done over 1000 of them. I ask if he had a website.  He replied no.  He taught the guy with the website how to do it and he left to start his own business.

Larry