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Who is doing what maintenance today?

OK so got the rear screen out. Started to clean up the frame which is really not bad at all. Only a few small rust spots on the lower edge at the driver's side. The seal seems OK too and reusable bit is taking a lot of cleaning up. Some mastic is hard and simply cracks off but some is very gooey so I shall set to with the chemistry set tomorrow.

I am ok using the string trick to get it back in, but I am unsure of when to apply the sealant. Do I put the seal on the glass and then squirt sealant in the frame section? Or do I mount the glass then go around trying to squeeze sealant under the outer section? I presume that this will involve having to wipe sealant off the tailgate when I have done?

Tips appreciated. It does look though over the years there have been successive attempts to cure various leaks with different squirty substances. Some of the section have nothing whatsoever in them and are factory clean down to the paintwork. I think the trick here is that where the water gets in is not necessarily the same as where it leaks out. Mine is dry until you raise the tailgate then it leaks at the hinge edge. That looks like water tracking backwards from the wiper area to me
 
IIRC Chris, when I did mine I put a small bead of sealant at the root of the rubber where the glass sits then fitted this carefully to the glass. I'm not certain where the sealant went for the metal side of the rubber but as it has oozed out slightly between the rubber and the tailgate on the outside, it can only have gone in the gap in the rubber on the outside but biased towards the outside. I can't remember but I might have put the string in first.

The alternative, which I favour, is to put sealant around the aperture on the outside of the tailgate just where the steel rolls round into the aperture. I've got a feeling when I did the windscreen I did the rubber but the rear glass is different.

Once in, I seem to remember running one of those wallpaper rollers around it to squish the sealant to an even layer.

The butyl sealant cleans off with a plastic spatula once it has gone off a bit. The rest rubs off with a cloth I think. Again leave it to dry for a bit.
 
I need a look in better light, but initially I didn't think the glass to rubber needed sealing. It was more the outer flap to metal where water would ingress, but I'll have a good scientific stare at it over a coffee.

Got to get it all clean first and of course true to form the tube of goop hasn't arrived yet.
 
TBH, the glass to rubber bit is the easiest. In fact it aids installation by holding the rubber to the glass. If you don't do it, and it leaks, you may kick yourself. If you do it and it doesn't you'll be pretty pleased anyway I'll wager.
 
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The FSM procedure is to fit the glass with rubber into the body then go round with sealant between the rubber and both the glass and the bodywork. That's what I've just done (the Autowindscreen fitter didn't have any sealant) and water is getting in on the LHS somehow. In rain it's a steady drip, with a hosepipe it p****s in. There was some leakage between glass and rubber which I cured but just can't cure the rest of it. Was going to have another go or even remove it again myself and refit it but, as I've just paid £245 to have it done, they'll be coming back. Personally I think sealing the rubber onto the glass first with a bead of sealant and then running a bead round the outer rubber before fitting will give a better seal first time. JMO
 
Sorry tp but your wasting your time with these muppets, iv commented on this before and in the end i replaced both the front and rear myself with toyota glass and gaskets. Guess what, they dont leak now. I did it to the fsm. Glass is glued into the gasket, then fitted to the vehicle. Then the gasket to body is sealed with a sealant, not the adhesive that was used to put the gasket around the glass. I think non airbag models dont use the adhesive.
 
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Thanks guys. I know these can be hard to seal. I might do a clean dry fit first to see just how and where sealant would go and be effective. I'd rather be able to SEE where it's going rather than try to squidge stuff in here and there. I do have a brand new seal as I said and wonder if that is part of the answer. 20 odd year old seals might well never seal quite properly. Today I shall be cleaning every last trace of gasket from the seal and frame. There is no way it's going to be a good fit with all that crud stuck to it.
 
Sounds like I accidentally followed the FSM. The tricky bit is to not wipe out the sealant with the string by placing the sealant on the rear of the outer part of the rubber or the metal frame so it is sandwiched flat on the vertical outer part of the door, on the flat if you like. An extra pair of hands makes fitting much easier as you've got to get both sides of the door.
 
It looks like Crispin (or the forum fairy) has been doing some maintenance to the forum software... I see lots of new buttons to press...
 
Sorry tp but your wasting your time with these muppets, iv commented on this before and in the end i replaced both the front and rear myself with toyota glass and gaskets. Guess what, they dont leak now. I did it to the fsm. Glass is glued into the gasket, then fitted to the vehicle. Then the gasket to body is sealed with a sealant, not the adhesive that was used to put the gasket around the glass. I think non airbag models dont use the adhesive.


I'm rapidly forming the same opinion about AW. They were supposed to ring me yesterday but by 14:30 I'd heard nothing so rang them again and was told they would 'escalate' the issue and I'd get a call back ASAP but still nothing. I have a trump card in that I paid by plastic so I can raise a stink with the credit card Co if I get no joy. As far as the actual fitting of it goes, after watching the fitter closely, it seems to pop in and out relatively easily with the string method. The rubber was still quite soft and floppy so I still think it's serviceable. One thing about doing the job yourself of course is you can take the time to get everything just right. It's just annoying having paid a professional to do it and getting all this hassle.
 
Been trying to clean up that old seal. Man even with solvents and such it's not coming good really. Think the best option is the new seal. But I really wanted that for my overlander. Will have to see how much another new one is. This is one of those jobs not worth a bodge.
 
The AG fitter recommended lighter fluid for removing Arbomast petroleum based sealants even though it says use white spirit on the tube. I tried both brake and carb cleaner and they hardly touched it.
 
Good calls guys. Tried all sorts and some helped but only I think because it washed out other contaminants in there. OK cover me, I'm going back in.
 
I can't remember what I used but the Toyota grey stuff did come off eventually. I've used Brillo pads to finish them off which bring them up like new. I seem to remember removing the worst of gently with a medium flat bluntish screwdriver. I probably took 3-4 hrs getting it clean. Pretty sure I tried rag and meths, petrol, white spirit and thinners but the key really is to get the worst of it off with a screwdriver and clean the remainder out with whatever works best. The good news is that once you've given it the final clean with the Brillo pad in warm water, it comes out like new, nice and supple. I may have just used the screwdriver then got the remainder off with the Brillo pad.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1451826266.989061.jpg

The above shows where the gutter seal I used has crept over time with the heat of the sun. But gives a good idea where I applied it.
 
I think your better off spending the time it would take to clean off the old gasket, by doing half a days overtime and spending the money on a new gasket. Iirc i used meths to clean off resedue sealant, it might be different in the colder weather but the arbomast continued to ooz out for a couple of weeks. I masked around the body work with masking tape just to take the bulk of the excess off. Imo better to much than not enough on this occasion.
 
screen 002.JPG

1. Clean rubber, glass and body with degreaser. Little stuck on bits don't matter.
2. Fit screen dry with string method.
3. Mask off glass with 1 inch masking tape right up to the edge of the rubber.
4. Mask off rubber the same putting the masking tapes edge to edge.
5. Force the nozzle off the gun between the glass and rubber and fill in with black polyurethane. Just enough so it just comes out.
6. Run finger round the rubber forcing excess out.
7. Remove excess with right angle plastic scrapper forcing the corner into the gap so the excess is spread onto the tapes.
8. Remove tapes.
9. Spray lightly with windscreen cleaner or soap suds and run finger round to flatten the sealer10. Repeat with rubber to body.

It worked for me. Trouble is if you break the screen you have to buy a new rubber.
Never had this trouble years ago. Fitted the screens dry, job done never leaked, no sealer.
 
With the butyl screen sealer I keep on about there really is no need to mask. It came off really easily with a plastic spatula and a rag. You can even roll a bit into a ball and pick up any remains with it. Far far easier just to run a bead round the channel in the rubber and put the glass in. Then do the other side (rubber to metal). Let it go off a bit and remove excess. If you want to take the glass out again it will come out as it stays supple.

After the leakage from the use of Arbomast by Autoglass, wild horses wouldn't get me anywhere near it. It went hard ish like the sweet cigarettes that used to be around until they realised it probably wasn't a good idea to encourage kids to smoke with them. Fell out all over the place when I took the screen out and that which stayed was easily prised off. It just cracked everywhere.
 
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