1990 E150, Decided to take it out for a drive yesterday. After about 30 minutes I started getting drops of water from the top of the windshield area drop down onto the steering wheel and my leg, The wife had a few drops on her from the passenger side also. Not rust on the outside that's visible, the two seams on the pillars, have a little surface rust but nothing major, could this be the gasket? Also, why start leaking after about 30 minutes???
What's the ball park cost going to be to have the leak fixed if the windshield has to be removed?? I'm about 50 miles NW of Chicago.
Thanks for any input.

 

Oh No Mike!
section 43-11 in the ford service manual coves the stationary Butyl windows. There are clips that hold the molding on and require a special tool to unlock them from the molding. There are other ways to loosen them BUT if you bend the molding, good lick finding a replacement. I am sure they are out there but where?

I have removed 2 windshields from old cars in the past but i had to take my time. Most glass shops will not remove an old windshield and reinstall it. But it can be done. I used a thin piece of stainless steel wire and had a helper. Myself on the inside and friend on the outside using the wire like a saw to try to cut through the butyl. If it is still very soft, I am not sure how that would work. I'm just thinking that either your butyl seal has failed or you do have some rust under the molding and cant see it. Hopefully its just the seal.

One I di d was on a 67 Falcon and the other on a 66 Galaxy 500 and the install kit had a round putty like butyl tape you rolled out around the frame and then laid the glass in place and gently kept pressing the windshield down all the way around little by little until it was seated and you saw a good seal on the glass. Cleaning the old stuff off was a chore but I just kept working at it.

If you have rust then of course that will have to be repaired. My windshield has some light opaque areas in a couple of places and JWA said that is where the two sheets are separating, usually caused by water. So I have been intending to remove my molding and have a look. I think HF sells the tool and so to many parts stores.

here are a couple of videos showing using the tool and the guy explains how to remove the molding


JWA is the resident glass expert. So hopefully he will pop by and tell you the correct way to fix the issue.

In one video the guy shows some plastic clips attached to the molding but the ones I worked on, the clip snapped into a lip on the molding itself.

 

Thanks for the mention Annaleigh!

This issue as described is best left to someone experienced in such repairs. At minimum the exterior moldings and perhaps the interior headliner should be removed to asses possible rusting of the pinchweld. If this windshield is original to the vehicle or has been replace without proper procedures it's almost certain rusted metal and degraded butyl adhesive is causing the leaks. (Beginning model year 1992 windshields had exterior moldings were part of the glass and not replaceable or removable separately,)

This is probably a job left to professionals but be prepared to replace the windshield amd remove & repair rust along the windshield pinchweld. Not too many shortcuts or DIY steps the average vehicle owner can perform.

Call around your local area for a preliminary inspection and estimate of repair,

 

Thanks for the videos and advice. Yes I had thought about removing the windshield myself, but knowing my luck I would shatter it. I'll call around and see who I can find. about the only one I'm aware of is safelite, and I don't really like them just because I let the replace the windshield on my Kia Soul and it leaked, took it back and it still leaked, took it back and they completely replaced the windshield again. It's been about a year now, but I think it's leaking again. So if they can't fix a modern window correctly I'm real hesitant about letting them work on a 33 yo vehicle, that's probably older than most of the guys working there...LOL

 

I have a guy from B&R Glass coming out to the house on Saturday to take a look at it. I guess we'll see what happen Saturday.
Thanks for the advice.

 

Well time and risk wise, my local glass guy said if I needed my glued-in windshield removed, he would break the glass to remove it.
So, he said plan on a new glass and install. I believe he suggested using the rubber seal like was used in 1978 for my Van.
Anyway, when it needs removal, I will be ready for a new glass figured in. He said total for new glass, rubber seal and install would be $500. Not too shabby.

 

Update.... The glass company didn't show. When I contacted them I got a story about the technician being in an accident the day before. I asked why I wasn't called to reschedule and I got no answer. I guess I'll look for someone else.

 

Update, I actually found a glass repair shop just a couple of blocks from my house that said they can look at it today if I can get it to them before 3:30pm. Shouldn't be a problem I get off at 2pm and am usually home by 2:30pm. I'll let you know what they say....I sure hope it's not rusted under the moulding.

 

The van is at the Glass shop today, I had my son take it in for me considering I start work at 6am and they don't open until 8am. They told him I could pick it up at 5pm today. Something about having to Grind and replace the pin?? Clips?? Because of them probably rusting underneath. Anyway, they said my windshield was in good shape so it was going to cost $175 to fix it. I can only hope they do a good job and not some hack crap that gets covered and only lasts a couple of months like just when the warranty runs out...LOL

 

Ok, so the shop was too busy to work on my van yesterday, I took it back this morning. The tech called me about 1.5hrs later and said the windshield is not leaking. He said he pulled the moulding from the window. He said whoever installed it before made sure there was plenty of glue inside and out. He said they are using soap and water with compressed air and it is bone dry inside. He said he was going back to check again to be sure.

So what are anyone's thoughts? There is no visible rust around the windshield anywhere. There is a little surface rust on the pillar seams, but could the water travel up that far and across to drop down on my had over the steering wheel an drop down on my wife's knee in the passenger seat? Could it be coming in through the drip rails on the side? I'm at a loss, what's my next move?

 

Hi Mike,
At 3:32 om this video, the guy talks about the pins and clips that hold the trim molding on around the windshield. This is an older Mustang I believe. They were used on a 67 Falcon, 66 Galaxy, and on a 80's Zephyr i know because that is the 3 windshields I have replaced in my life and all had the same clips. I am going to guess that our vans used the same ones that fasten to the little welded in pin. I guess he mentioned grinding off the clip retaining pins simply because he assumed they would be badly rusted. Those are the clips and pins mentioned in the above videos about removing the trim.

As to where the leak is, Here are a couple of pics for anyone who may not be readily familiar with the A-pillar on our older vans. I could see driving and water being forced up into the seam. JWA most always recommends spraying the areas with a water hose. Perhaps you could remove the inside trim and then using a sprayer, slowly so each side one at a time while looking for leaks. Of course mine has a raised roof and it is difficult to see the gutters.

 

Thank you Annaleigh. I had them pull the molding...no rust anywhere. Clips and pins not rusted either. They cut out all the old sealer inside and out and resealed the windshield. It's suppose to rain over the weekend so I'll let you know. On the same note what type of sealer should I put in the seam of the pillar?

 

Sorry Mike, I posted the wrong video i believe. Here is another that shows the clips and pins

That's great news that there is no rust where the windshield sits. JWA might advise you better about the Auto Body Seam Sealer. There are several different types. Some that harden somewhat and some that stay pliable. I am not sure which you would use on the A-pillar.

I had a small rust problem just starting under my rt door just under the weather strip. the water had gotten behind the factory seam sealer. I scraped out the seam sealer, sanded the area, used rust converter, primed with Rust-oelum and painted it with Rust-oelum color that seemed to match pretty good.. BUT this was the bottom of the door where no one sees. I have read that rust-oelum can not be painted over with most automotive paints. It has to be sanded off completely. I also did not replace the seam sealer but instead just sprayed several coats of paint over the seam and then re-glued the weather strip, I figured that I would be replacing the door weather strips later and would check it again then. BTW its a good idea to peek under the doors and gently lift the weatherstripping so inspect the seams under there. You've seen those doors with holes rusted through at the bottom!

First though is finding the leak and then determining what is the best repair. i don't believe you have a raised roof? That should make the task easier. I have a trim that runs around the raised roof right on top of the gutter. It has to come off to even inspect the gutters. If I find rust in mine, I am just going to make the repair with rust converter and then fill the whole seam because they do very little now.

 

A leak of this nature does NOT travel uphill---it goes towards gravity. When looking for a leak it is NOT necessary to use a water stream with any more pressure than whatever the city water supply provides! Keep this in mind: @ 200 MPH the wind force is about 94 PSI so pressure above 45 lbs is excessive and does not represent any real world conditions. If your van leaks sitting still that's more than enough to determine the source of a body leak.

Start at the bottom of one A-Pillar watching from inside the van looking for where the leak presents itself, slowly move the water stream up the A-Pillar, across the top and down the opposite A-Pillar. This water stream does not have to closer than 12-16" from the body to be effective.

Using this method if you don't find any leaks it might be time to contact a body shop and get their advice. Solving this leak might involve removing some of the front interior---does the headliner show any signs of water staining? Also if this leak doesn't show itself until some time after it begins raining you have issues with the body further back than the windshield opening. At that age van anything is possible.

 

Thanks JWA it was only leaking when moving. There isn't any damage to the headliner. This is a regular roof van, no rust on top. But as stated before. They just revealed the glass so I'll wait a few days to see if it leaks.