Wind Shield Seam Leak | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Wind Shield Seam Leak

prayforsurf0

Active Member
Joined
April 7, 2015
Messages
95
Reaction score
7
City, State
Montauk NY
Year, Model & Trim Level
1998 Ford Explorer XLT
Damn it !! Rust is gonna kill my EX before anything else ! Keep my rig in top shape and she purrs beautifully, but I live in the North East and she's rusting out in a few key spots. One of those spots is along the windshield seam.

I'm pretty confident in my assumption that the rust is happening because I've had the windshield replace multiple times in the past and most of the places use a saw zall to cut the glue/gasket seam. Of course they destroy the paint in the process making you vulnerable to rust. Years on the road still and its finally rusted all the way through in the form of two little holes at each corner of the wind sheild.

I'm really not confident to do it properly and pull the wind shield off without pro help and I cant do that til I get some more dough...any temporary suggestions ? I was thinking to sand away as much rust as I can, prime, and jam some two part epoxy in the little hole from the outside just to keep my interior from getting wet every time it rains.

I know thats not proper, but I just need something to get me through a few months. Any suggestions ?
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





For a temporary repair that is not too hard to remove when doing a more permanent fix, I would use some type of sealant. Whatever you have around the house should be fine, maybe in white to it doesn't show up so much?

Around here window replacement people use a heated blade type tool to cut out the sealant. I wouldn't let some hack touch my truck with a Sawzall for windshield replacement.
 






For a temporary repair that is not too hard to remove when doing a more permanent fix, I would use some type of sealant. Whatever you have around the house should be fine, maybe in white to it doesn't show up so much?

Around here window replacement people use a heated blade type tool to cut out the sealant. I wouldn't let some hack touch my truck with a Sawzall for windshield replacement.

Got it.

Yea now that I know, I'd get pretty fired up if I saw a guy going at my truck with a sawzal. Was never there to see it, but I'm pretty sure it's the case. If it ever needs to get done in the future, I'll be sure to say, no sawzalls allowed.

Thanks for your input.
 






Got it.

Yea now that I know, I'd get pretty fired up if I saw a guy going at my truck with a sawzal. Was never there to see it, but I'm pretty sure it's the case. If it ever needs to get done in the future, I'll be sure to say, no sawzalls allowed.

Thanks for your input.
The tool they often use looks like a sawzall...but, uses a flat blade and has a more controlled action to cut thru the hardened urethane seal. I suppose in the wrong hands, it could definitely gouge the paint. If you do use a sealant, do NOT use RTV. It won't seal very well and will be a mess to completely clean off when ready to permanently fix and paint. I have a '75 Chevy Laguna S-3 sitting in my garage where previous owner used clear RTV on the rear glass and, on a hot day sitting in the sun, it actually has oozed. I don't look forward to the job of cleaning that out when time comes to restore this car.
 






As mentioned they do not use a sawzall. The rust is most likely from salty water getting behind the seal and getting stuck.
 






Back
Top