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windshield woes (long) 200 1989

An '89 with a leaky windshield. I have one of them too.

My wife's car: She puts up with a dripping from the top, and the electronic speedo2eter quitting. When I got the car it leaked and it was obvious to me the windshield was a replacement -- meaning it was not a butyl seal but urethaned in. The trim was half coming off, and my attempts to put it back were frustrated by broken clips buried in the rock-hard urethane.

That is when I learned from Zee and other sources: the rubber surrounding the chrome trim does nothing to seal or keep water out. It might keep some large leaves from joining the crud in there, but the water seal is the butyl rubber between the pinchweld and the glass, or in my case the poorly applied urethane. Before I learned this, I'd injected "flowable" silicone sealer (RTV) along with the urethane in the places that leaked. You can tell where these are with the aid of a garden hose nozzle. That was also before I was reminded that the ascetic acid that cures RTV corrodes the steel - especially in the places the previous replacement tech scraped the paint off while prepping the pinchweld. Rust! The flowable stuff actually flowed over my fuse block! (Just like the rain does).

I'd hoped to replace a w/s on my 84 which had a chip where the state inspection does not accept. Could never find a decent un-pitted one in the junkyards - even on '87s and '88s. On BB, every now and then someone would extol the advantages of the '91 and later windshields, with the integral rubber molding in place of the chrome trim. When pressed by the inspection deadline (one day to spare) I caved and had the glass professionally replaced with the later model windshield. That was 2 months ago and I'm very happy. The professional suggested I could bring in the '89 and he'd attempt to re-seal it without removing the windshield, if I did not mind the aesthetics of more urethane and still no trim (mine remains on a shelf in the basement). I'm leaning toward getting a replacement and saving the chance my bride will not tell me about the BIG puddle under the rug or the water stains on the suit, even though she is in favor of attempting the fix. That chrome-less unit is really nice looking.

Truth is, I practiced removing such a windshield, though not on a Volvo. It was a hatch glass and it was in with urethane which is more difficult to cut than the butyl rubber. I was patient, used a lot of piano wire, and managed to remove the glass without its breaking. But the hatch was off of the minivan and easy to get at both sides of.

Watching the pros do my '84 convinced me you need a pal to help set the glass where it belongs. Your help should be experienced or at least

coordinate well with you. (Matching jump suits?) I believe the effort they put in cleaning and preparing the pinchweld is key. A primer is put on to aid the bonding of the urethane. There are lots of posts here that tell of windshields for $140 or less, but where I live I could not get any quotes below $160 without waiting for special order glass and wound up paying $200 for '91 glass put in on Saturday. And I think I'm gonna do it again.






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