Leak in windscreen seal

Bluecube

Bluecube

Bluecube

Soldato
Joined
20 Feb 2011
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4,494
I’ve got water dripping down from the middle of the windscreen into the car. I can’t see anything untoward but I suspect that part of the seal has lifted or there’s a tiny hole somewhere.

Any advice on how to go about fixing this issue as it’s not a problem I’ve ever had before.
 
Botch fix would be to lift the rubber seal up a squirt silicone sealer around it, proper fix would be remove the windscreen and get it refitted, just make sure they bring a spare screen, because it will probably break coming out, claim on your insurance if you have windscreen cover
 
Car insurance windscreen cover, £70 for a replacement usually. Job jobbed.

If it was an old car not worth much, I’d be tempted to bodge it as noted above but it might not work and will make a replacement much harder.
 
I was thinking about putting it through the insurance but I was told that because there wasn’t a crack on the windscreen that this wasn’t possible. That didn’t come from the insurance company btw
 
Let’s rewind a few steps here. On a modern car with a bonded screen the ‘seal’ that you can see doesn’t really do much more than cover the edge of the glass. There are very few reasons why a bonded screen should ever leak. Either an installation defect (Would only be relevant if the car is very new or has recently had a replacement screen fitted) or the car is old enough that the steel aperture has started to corrode.

If we’re talking about something old enough that it doesn’t have a bonded screen then we can get into perished seals etc but first of all we need a little more detail before we start encouraging anyone to smash a (potentially irreplaceable) screen.
 
@Malt_Vinegar Easy question first - no sunroof. I've no idea what the drain is though so can't answer that.

@kaiowas The car is a 65 plate Merc E220. It has not had a replacement screen fitted since I bought it 3.5 years ago and I can't see anything in the paperwork to indicate it's ever had one. Pics of the windscreen can be provided if necessary but there's nothing to see. The leak only happens when it rains heavily and even then it's not guaranteed to happen which is strange. One thing I have noticed is that on cold days, the passenger side of the windscreen will take considerably longer to demist and it's this side that the leak appears to be on.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Car insurance windscreen cover, £70 for a replacement usually. Job jobbed.

If it was an old car not worth much, I’d be tempted to bodge it as noted above but it might not work and will make a replacement much harder.
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please sir ....can you tellme which insurance company you have 70 pound w/s excess? lowest i found was 125, maybe i need glasses but interested as my policies are due soon?
 
Bluecube said:
@Malt_Vinegar Easy question first - no sunroof. I've no idea what the drain is though so can't answer that.

@kaiowas The car is a 65 plate Merc E220. It has not had a replacement screen fitted since I bought it 3.5 years ago and I can't see anything in the paperwork to indicate it's ever had one. Pics of the windscreen can be provided if necessary but there's nothing to see. The leak only happens when it rains heavily and even then it's not guaranteed to happen which is strange. One thing I have noticed is that on cold days, the passenger side of the windscreen will take considerably longer to demist and it's this side that the leak appears to be on.
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is it a saloon or est?
if estate could be roof rails if fitted
sounds silly but do you park on a slope? if so park other way around, ive had customer vehicles that have had leaks around rear antenae, gutter seams on the roof even, around rear screens and due to slopes the water has run forward, tbh without some trim removal its going to be hard to diagnose.
you could try ringing a few smaller independent windscreen companies and see if any of them want to do a leak detection on it, will cost but probably better than just jumping in to change the screen.
when i was a lad:) used to do screens for a living, the company in the unit next to us did mobile disco equipment often used to get them to run there smoke machine in vehicles amazing how quick you would find the leak :)
 
gc123 said:
please sir ....can you tellme which insurance company you have 70 pound w/s excess? lowest i found was 125, maybe i need glasses but interested as my policies are due soon?
Click to expand...

Direct line, sorry its actually £75. £10 for a chip repair.

As with all insurance companies - your mileage will vary on their quote price.
 
if estate too - rear washer tube has not cracked pushing water back across headliner ? but, presumably when you push headliner with a finger you cant feel any damp though;
rear water drain channels are clear and rear tailgate seal looks ok ?
 
The only way is to remove and refit the screen afaik. You cant just patch them up, it has to be a seamless seal.

If there is no rust underneath rails etc then it can only be the windscreen. If there is even a pinhole gap water gets in.
 
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