Winshield Leaking

[MoparDart68]

As the title says, I discovered today after washing my car, that the windshield is leaking. I installed new carpet a few weeks ago, so I wasn't too happy. The leak appears to be coming from the drivers side, just above the lower right corner of the windshield (vertical part). I'll provide some pic's of the area in question tomorrow.

I do know the weatherstripping and glass were replaced a little over 10 years ago. The weatherstripping is in excellent shape, since for most of the past decade, the car has been garaged. The previous owner was unable to get the chrome trim installed on the bottom, passenger and driver's sides. The chrome trim just won't stay on the clips. There appears to be a lot of sealant used around the weather-stripping (black goop), which is probably why the clips aren't snapping correctly onto the trim. Just wondering what I could use to seal the existing leak for now. Furthermore, some parts of the weatherstripping are higher than other areas, i.e. the trim clips are easier to get to in the lower areas. Could I shave the rubber on the weatherstripping to even out the plane? This way, the trim may be able to clip correctly and stay put. Anyone else have issues with those clips not holding the trim in place? Thanks

Edit: Yes, I spelled windshield wrong in the title....

 

[64dart170]

As the title says, I discovered today after washing my car, that the windshield is leaking. I installed new carpet a few weeks ago, so I wasn't too happy. The leak appears to be coming from the drivers side, just above the lower right corner of the windshield (vertical part). I'll provide some pic's of the area in question tomorrow.

I do know the weatherstripping and glass were replaced a little over 10 years ago. The weatherstripping is in excellent shape, since for most of the past decade, the car has been garaged. The previous owner was unable to get the chrome trim installed on the bottom, passenger and driver's sides. The chrome trim just won't stay on the clips. There appears to be a lot of sealant used around the weather-stripping (black goop), which is probably why the clips aren't snapping correctly onto the trim. Just wondering what I could use to seal the existing leak for now. Furthermore, some parts of the weatherstripping are higher than other areas, i.e. the trim clips are easier to get to in the lower areas. Could I shave the rubber on the weatherstripping to even out the plane? This way, the trim may be able to clip correctly and stay put. Anyone else have issues with those clips not holding the trim in place? Thanks

Edit: Yes, I spelled windshield wrong in the title....

Trimming sealant a little ok, but do not trim gasket!!!
The Darts like to pull the sealant away from the body fence and where the tabs are bent out along bottom of windshield where the gasket slips on tabs. They will also leak at top corner of door seals and it will appear to be windshield.
Have someone sit in car and poor small amounts of water where you suspect, start low, check, move higher check, and so on till it leaks. Leak will be easier to detect if Inst. cluster removed but is a pain.
If the gasket is higher plane not allowing trim to mate to clips the installers may have had too much sealer in gasket channel where glass goes into the gasket and dried that way before trim was installed, like I said trimming sealant ok, trimming gasket not.
You may get by with adding a little more sealer at leak sorce, but after 10 years, it's probibly time to do a remove, repair, reinstall.
Local glass shop will come to you to remove, have them put someplace safe. You clean and repair fence (body lip the gasket goes over), prime, paint, then they come back and reinstall, usually for $100-$125.
Have covered in several threads, do a search of my screen name, with the key word "windshield" and check em out!
Highly recommended to have the pros do the work but watch them like a hawk, sometimes they miss spots with the sealer especially along bottom where tabs and clips are next to each other. Tabs? See our restore thread titled: "ABodyBetty's new baby comes home" under members restorations section.
Good Luck and I hope this helps. We have to do every windshield we get on 3 of 4 Darts and our Ford car hauler too!!:read2:

 

[A340]

I know where you are coming from! Wrote up a story on this last year on my Duster. (search for windshield post by A340) Your best bet is to pull the windshield, buy a new gasket, and get the proper clips. When I purchased my clip set there are 3 or 5 clips that are about 1/8 inch taller than the rest that go at the bottom. I had the same problem you have, had to pull my windshield once again and I purchased all the clips that were the same size as those 3 or 5 that were at the bottom. That fixed my problem of getting the moulding to fit properly. My old gasket actually had a slit in it at the bottom. (it was only 3 years old) The water was coming in from the vertical post and running down to the bottom corner then leaking through that slit. I tried to seal the old gasket on both sides with urathane thinking nothing can get by this. I ended up pulling my windshield 3 times before getting the leak and moulding properly fixed. Just use the new gasket and clips and seal with butyl that you can purchase at any NAPA store. Good Luck !

 

[MoparDart68]

Thanks for the advice 64dart and a340. I'll check out those links as well. Yeah, yesterday I had my dad pour water from a water bottle down the windshield while I was in the car looking for leaks. We started from the bottom and worked our way up along the corner. It seemed to leak about 3 inches up from the lower driver's side corner. Inside the car, the water was dripping down the kick panel wall (took the panel off) near the door, as well as the lower corner of the dash.

I guess I could just clean out the excess sealant gunk, then reapply to hopefully seal the leak, but who knows if that will work....I'm willing to try that first before popping the entire windshield.

Now, these local shops today, do they know what they are doing with old cars? I know modern windshields are a bit different than what I have. Just worried about some flunky shop guessing on the right way to install a windshield. Thoughts? Once again, I appreciate the input.

 

[A340]

Call and ask first if they have an installer capable of doing the 60's cars. Don't end up with a newbie trying to seal your leak with urathane, like mine did!

Also make sure they carry butyl for sealant. Many shops won't carry it anymore.