New Rear Glass Seal

    I noticed early on that my back window leaked whenever I washed the car. Not jsut a little, but a lot. I knew it would just be a matter of time before I would replace it. That time has come.

    I learned a few do's and don'ts  along the way but overall it was manageable.

The best way to approach it is to read the manual. Here is a link....

REAR GLASS INSTRUCTION

    The first thing I did not do and should have is to remove the rubber, glass and chrome trim all as one unit. The trim came off with some coaxing but I dented my panel below the glass a bit. I did not realize I was doing it until it was too late.

THIS IS NOT HOW YOU DO IT!

    Once I discovered that it was happening I started prying up from the glass side of the trim. You risk breaking the glass doing it this way and I got lucky as far as that goes.
   
    If you are replacing the seal then just cut it from the inside and pop the whole thing out. Take it all apart once it is off the car. If you are just replacing the glass then you will have to maneuver the rubber over the pinch weld and work the whole thing out that way by pushing from the inside. Once that is done clean the pinch weld of any old sealant and address any rust. I was lucky and did not have any rust.

    To my defense, the seal came with instructions and I tried to use those to do it. My instructions did not tell me the chrome had to be installed onto the rubber before installing the glass and seal onto the car. I found out real fast that the trim wasn't going back in that way. I had to pull the glass back out and do it right.

    This in itself is a tricky procedure. I tried installing the trim into the seal then onto the glass... that did not work so well for me. I installed the rubber then the trim. I soaped all the channels to allow things to slip around easier.

    Once i got it all back together I placed the rope (see instructions) around the seal and placed it onto the car. I had someone on the outside pushing on the glass while I pulled the rope on the inside to work the rubber lip over t he pinch weld.

    The new seal does not fill the gap like the original one but other than that it keeps out water and that is the goal. I will have to address the color difference of the now exposed surface. I have just the color to do it. If you have been reading the blog you saw I have been using the blue on lots of the projects up to this point.

   

    Once I had that in I took it out side and ran the hose on it at pressure and no leaks! I will be putting the sealant under the lip of the seal once the shipment arrives.

    I did not feel like taking the windshield apart today so I started removing door panels to prepare for replacing he felt channels and vent window rubber. I have only received half the order so tomorrow I will probably work on the windshield. It should go smoothly. The channels in the doors and back side glass do not look like a easy job! I'm not looking forward to it!