Club 80-90 Forums

Ok, so about the middle of October I had the lip under the windscreen welded up and re-sprayed to match as it was leaking on the drivers side. Paid a pretty penny for the job too (though it did include a new windscreen and paint spraying as the old windscreen was cracked).

HOWEVER, less than 2 months down the line it's now leaking slightly in the passengers side!! What's the deal here then? I can see some rust staring up from underneath, so surely they missed cutting some of the old stuff out before welding new material on. Obviously I need this repairing again now, and they should pay for it to be done again (not me?!). I would have thought I could expect a repair to last 2 months!

Is it possible for water to rust through this quickly? I even supplied them with replacement panels for the corners and a genuine VW new seal!

If I wanted to take the windscreen out to take a peak, would I need to put in another new seal? Or could I re-use this one as it's only 2 months old? Is it advised o add black mastic around the outside of the seal? The garage didn't do this despite me suggesting it.

SO pissed off

Hi
dont suppose you have any pickies of the area before.during and after. if not it costs nowt for repairers to do this, its also insurance both ways,
the thing is those replacement bits are ok sort of but migged in they can often be done crudely and the area needs to be as vw made it so the seal works, in other words if they had done a crude repair then the seal would not make correct contact and hence pass water,
it need not be rusted through ( and steel wouldnt in that short time) but water will run up over the lip and more often work its way down from the top ,
you positive it was a genuine seal you got as opposed to a germand made or german quality?
asd for taking it out well if you have a go at the screen and break it then you have that cost to stand, if you cut the seal then you have the seal cost for definate but far less than the glass, personally I would and never have tried to remove a glass, i cut the screens out, as a seal is only £34 genuine.
also if there is bad welding and obstructions under the seal then this can have damaged the seal and may prevent it working when refitted,
if its as I suspect then it will now be a more difficult repair . sorry
mm
oh and mastic sorry never used asnd dont intend to. though others do

Cheers mm, replied to your PM

According to Bentley the procedure for fitting the seals ,even though we know that the factory didn't use sealant in most cases, weirdly a garage is supposed to when fitting the windows, a very specific material placed in a specific way, Russel advocated doing it, but I know from experience it doesn't always work, or maybe he didn't do it on mine
I know SyncroAndy found the correct mastic strips from somewhere when he fitted the double glazed units in his van, not sure if it was a VAG product though probably was knowing Andy
I have seen factory sealed windscreen with a little sealant in the lower corner edges where the braze is but most didn't have it from what I've seen - the one that had it was a UK market Syncro Caravelle GL with the trim - I removed the trim then cut the seal to recover the windscreen as usual then found the remnants pulled out easily until I got to those bottom corners where it was nicely bonded and it was definately placed as a bead before the screen went in not injected afterward to stop a leak, material was still pliant like a rubberized tar - lip of the van was still rusted through as per usual

I beleive Aiden that it was as you point out ,applied ? to account for irregularities in the frame aperature, the holehas to be as uniform and correct as a part of the shiny bodywork on the outside of the van, and this is where I believe a lot of the screen repairs fall down
mm

Even in my WIKI on this I advocate sealant. Seems nuts not to on a job like that. Who wants to do a job twice for puritanical reasons. B&Q roofing mastic is fine for the job and stays pliant. Any excess cleans off easy with White Spirit. You only need a hairline gap for the whole thing to start all over again. Not worth chancing it. It also helps keep oxygen out and any potential return of corrosion beneath the seal.

Ive seen this and for some shyte repairs no amount of sealant/mastic or whatever will cure a bad job
mm