took my xj in today for a new windshield seal and..

[winterbeater]

Umm, all the windshields are glued in, right? The trim comes off, chrome or glass. Once off, you can see exactly where the glass is leaking when you run a garden hose at that point. Mark it, the windshield shop can squeeze in more sealant to stop the leak.

Reinstall trim and drive. No removal.

Have I missed something?

OK, looking in the FSM some more, the XJ is halfway in between the old Beetle and most new cars. On the Beetle, the gasket held it in (almost like the XJ rear quarter windows). With new cars, the windshield is glued in with trim put over the top. It looks like on the XJ, the gasket fits around and over (like a "U" channel) and then the windshield/gasket assy is glued in to place.

 

[techno1154]

they tell me they cant re-seal it because it'd involve breaking mine so i gotta buy a new one they say. any ideers on this? its leaking all into my headliner and filling up my floor with aqua my windshields in good condition by the way

Since everyone on hear either say the windshield will break or it cannot be done, it make me feel unique.

The windshield in my XJ leaked badly when it rained. All I did was take the trim off, use a small sharp knife and removed as much of the sealer as possible then squeezed in some of the Auto Zone windshield sealer and be done with it. It has been perfect since 2001.

Then again, I do think I understand what the problem really is. :dunno:

If the wind shield itself is bad breaking it to remove it should not be a problem. If the leak is between the glass and the frame there is no need to remove the glass.

 

[dotcom]

when they took out my windshield to put in a new seal the windshield broke, he tried but it cracked anyway. good luck.

 

[yjkrawlerboy]

I did glass for 10 years and I always told people that there was a 50/50 chance that it would break. It's true that the piano wire method is the best chance of getting it out in one piece but I have never met a glass man who ever uses it. It's a two man job and very slow compared to the traditional tools. It seems to be more of a junk yard approach. I'm not saying that installers don't do it but practicing getting winshields out without breaking them isn't necessarily on the top of their priority list when they have 6-10 jobs per installer to do per day.

As far as the moulding goes, it depends on the year. IIRC 94 and down has the metal moulding that is held on with plastic clips. This can be removed and you can cut away the old urethane that has overflowed to the egde of the glass (not between the glass and the pinchweld) and add urethane where the leak is and re-install the moulding. Depending on the how bad the leak is this is sometimes very effective. On the 95 and up the moulding is rubber and wraps around the windshield with a c-channel before the windshield is glued in so it can't be removed without cutting it off and is harder to seal from the outside.

Sealing from the inside is usually quite effective. First of all to determine where the leak is, spray some foaming glass cleaner liberally across the entire top of the moulding then have a buddy use an air hose and spray it from the inside. The air will blow the glass cleaner away where the leak is. Now if you lay your head on your dash and look up above the headliner you will see the bead of urethane. You can buy a tube of urethane from a glass shop for $5-$8. Once you find where the leak is CAREFULLY run a bead of urethene along the area, then wearing a rubber glove, run your finger along it to push it into the gap. Be very careful, if you get this on your headliner you won't get it off.

After you fix a leak, don't use a high pressure car wash (car wash? what's a car wash?) for 24 hours.

One last thing, if your pinchweld is rusted, it will have to be pulled to properly seal it.

Sorry about the being so long winded but I hope that this will help someone maybe save some money by fixing small leaks by thmselves.

 

[CharlesS]

Before you go thru the trouble and expense of replacing or resealing the windshield... I have one question for you....
Do you have a roof rack installed.....
The roof rack nutserts are notorious for leaking which will cause the symptoms you have posted...
IF you do.... remove roof rack rails by unscrewing the torks head screws (T-25), clean the surface around the nutserts and apply a little RTV around the nutserts and apply a small amount to the threads on the screw and reassemble.... and allow the RTV to cure for at least 8 hours before exposing to water.....

 

[stephenspann27]

My dad is working on replacing the windshield in my '87XJ. He said he has the "rope" style Urethane.. he is asking if it is supposed to have the rope style or the tube style.. or.. is it just personal preference?

 

[CMAHON]

STAY AWAY FROM THE "ROPE IN" ALWAYS GLUE (URATHANE)IN!!!!

 

[imprezkid]

So even with the newer molding in the 95's, they need to be glued in?

 

[kastein]

Yes. The molding is only for looks.

Windshields on almost all modern vehicles have to be glued in because they are an integral part of the roof structure, and also because they form part of the passenger airbag system - the airbag deflects off the windshield (see how it points upwards in many passenger vehicles?) and is directed at the passenger by it.

EDIT: I either have the magic touch or got lucky. Pulled the first one I walked up to at the junkyard successfully. The harbor freight 90 degree blade tool is next to worthless, but their piano wire tool works great, it's all in how you angle the wire while sawing/pulling. If you do it wrong you'll put pressure on the glass instead of the glue and will crack it. Also, it helps if you do it on a warm day, in the winter and on cold days the urethane adhesive is rock hard and much more difficult to cut. As noted above you WILL need a new trim ring, unless you have even more of a magical touch than I do.

 

[welder-for to long]

when i bought my xj from my friend he had a glass shop replace the windshield before i got it the didnt replace the gasket and the damn thing leaked everytime it rained it would fill my glovebox and floor all the time.all i did was pull the gasket back alittle with a screw driver and used windshield sealent in a chaulk gun and just fill the gasket all the way around and havent had a problem since.it seems that they had installed the gasket wrong and glued it in and had left open areas all around it.they said that they would not repair it unless he paid for the replacement...total b-s

 

[kastein]

The glue is the part that seals it. They did a crappy job of gluing it. The gasket is not for sealing... all it is is for looks.

Also, if you ever break that windshield, the next glass guy to work on your vehicle is going to be very unhappy. That much silicone caulking is going to slow him down a lot cleaning it back out.

 

[CharlesS]

The guy at All Star Glass that replaced the windshield on my '98 said it is a 50/50 proposition whether the windshield will come out intact.
The same guy could remove the same windshield 10 times and no matter how careful you are; you still could break the windshield 3-5 times while trying to separate it from the glue.
The technician was surprised that he removed mine unfractured.
Prepping the surfaces after removal and applying continuous beads; one across the top, both sides and bottom are keys to making sure the windshield doesn't leak.

 

[winkosmosis]

How about just sealing it with silicone? If I had a leaking windshield seal it would never even occur to me to replace the whole seal... If people fixed everything like that we'd always be broke.

 

[xcm]

ehh...

Its kinda like saying, "I have a coolant leak, seems to be coming from the water pump gasket. I'll just smear a bunch of RTV over it and that will stop the leak."

While it will probably stop the leak, your not actually fixing the problem.

the leak IS THE PROBLEM.

appling extra silicon to a leaking window, is nothing like smearing rtv over a leaking water pump... the water pump sees 30+ psi or so... the windshield doesnt produce that much pressure... your basically fighting gravity....


i see tkjeeper is also a glass guy... are you one too? no. i know you're not because of the way you talk about silicone..

any leak can be fixed with silicone, you just gotta prep it right with alk. go look at the shark tank at sea world... yup. silicone. ask me how i know.

 

[kastein]

How about just sealing it with silicone? If I had a leaking windshield seal it would never even occur to me to replace the whole seal... If people fixed everything like that we'd always be broke.

Don't you own a Jeep? :dunno:

The problem, in my mind, is getting the silicone into the right spot... when I lifted the trim on my MJ to try and find a leak, it looked like a war zone under there. Took me about 15 minutes to fish all the pine needles, mold, mildew, and general crap out of there before I could even see what was going on, and even then, I had to remove someone else's badly done attempt at a patch on the same leak. If you don't get the area perfectly clean before applying the silicone you're just stacking another problem on top of the first one.

Installing the windshield right the first time is the way to keep it from leaking, if they don't clean up rust bubbling/paint peeling and properly form the urethane bead before pressing the windshield into place there is going to be a leak, and you have a hell of a lot more to fight than gravity unfortunately. If the water gets into the leak, capillary action pulls it along till it's on the other side of the leak, and then gravity just keeps feeding it as water pours out on the other side. Don't underestimate capillary action, it's the only way water gets from the roots of a tree to the leaves, and that's working against gravity.

 

[xcm]

prep prep PREP. if you dont prep, dont caulk! glaziers have a 'pull test'. let it dry and try to pell it off, it shouldnt peel AT ALL. if it does... you didnt clean first! or you didnt let the alcohol dry.

you can schmere the caulk up flush with the outside of the window... if the water never makes it to the existing crack (which will also be the dirtiest part, due to the water taking crap with it while flowing into the cab). you dont have to fill the hole... just block it off. seriously, its less than 2 psi of flow trying to push in... it doesnt take much to block waterflow.