so as i was eating lunch yesterday i hear a loud pop and then shattering glass. lookout side and my rear window had just exploded. anyone ever have that happen to them or heard of this happening. it was on a 2000 ford explorer xls. weird as **** called the insurance company and had it replaced that goodness for zero deductable.

 

i would bet it had some help from rock, bullet or ball bat !!

 

It probably had a small crack, possibly a stress crack and the heat just got to it.

 

I have seen it happen. I am a locksmith and one winters night I got a call to the Coast Guard Air Station. A young pilot had a late model Jeep and got in started the motor and then got out locking the door behind him.

When I got there, he had been trying to get in on the drivers door and there was a metal rod stuck in the door. I was working on the passenger door, and the drivers window blew.

What had happened was he had chipped the tempered glass in his attempt to get in. with the heater going there was a temperature differential and the glass was weakened by the chip.

Tempered glass is made by heating the glass and then rapidly cooling it. The stresses in the outer layer are pulling the surface of the glass together, and the core is in compression. The result is a really tough sheet of glass. But when an edge gets chipped the balance between the skin and the core is lost and when one side of the skin expands or contracts unevenly the sucker blows.

The windshield on the car is not tempered, rather it is laminated. Two sheets of annealed glass with a thin layer of plastic. These will chip and crack but don't blow up like the tempered.

 

For what it's worth the back liftgate window on my 2002 Explorer shattered when my son was opening it. Never saw that happen before. Unfortunately insurance won't cover it so I'm trying to determine if replacing the entire gate and window might be cheaper.

 

The cheapest way is to just go to the junk yard and get a new rear window.

Here is what the book says:

1] Raise liftgate window.

2] Remove retainer rings and clevis pins from both of the window lift assemblies.

3] Remove the lift assemblies from the ball stud on the liftgate (If necessary.)

4] Remove the screws holding the window assembly hinges.

5] Remove the liftgate window assembly.

Although not mentioned in the book if you have a rear window defogger, you would have to unplug that. Not even sure if the Explorer had that option or not.

If going to the junk yard sounds like a pain, you might want to price some of the glass places. Last time I needed a windshield a brand new aftermarket was about $200 installed and the guy came to me. Installing a windshield is a real pain due to having to strip off the molding and cut through the old adhesive. Then they have to use their special glue and what not to set the new one in place and replace the trim.

The back glass on an Explorer is one of the easier pieces of auto glass to install.

If you get one from the junk yard, I would bring some large sheets of cardboard and wrap the glass even before you leave the yard. While this would not prevent breakage if you gave it a good drop it will protect the edge from being chipped. The only other thing you need to be careful with is if you change the hinges. There are plastic or rubber washers that isolate the glass from the hinge and the screw. You want to be sure these are in correctly. Not a hard thing but an important thing.

On the topic of chipped edges, be sure to run your finger around the edge of the glass before you remove the one at the junk yard. Pass on any glass that has the slightest chip.

P.S. the instructions were from the 91 service manual. I just re-read your post and noticed that you were talking about a 2002. If the glass is held in different, then these instructions might not be right.

If it is a glue in style I would recommend a pro, you can buy all the stuff, but there is a bit of a learning curve and it is easy to screw up.

The gasket mounts are not too bad if the rubber is still pliable and you are careful. If the rubber is hard, then you might want to get a new gasket.

Hope that helps.