When I bought my car, I did not realize that the body wasn't quite straight. It was (is) the first car I ever bought. I wasn't used to looking at the body of a car, so I just didn't notice. I rode my bike, a bus, a train, or hitchhiked until I was 22, so there was no need to care or think of cars whatsoever (except when passing in traffic). This is because while trying to learn to drive (stick) when I was 17, I ran into a pole. My foot thought the gas pedal was the brake pedal!! yikes!! To my credit, there were two screaming children in the backseat and an aggressively encouraging stepmother in the passenger seat right before it happened. Sorry, I seem to be digressing a lot....back to the matter...
car body not straight, windshield also came cracked with the car. It looks like it's worse than when I bought it. It's leaking water like crazy into the car!! I'm sure it's coming from the crack. This didn't happen last year with the same crack, it must have gotten worse somehow. Is there anything I can do, temporarily besides covering it every time I park it? Any ideas? I also would like to know if, because the body isn't quite straight, replacing the front glass would be affected. I'm thinking that the seal around the window wouldn't seal properly without glue like it's supposed to. I was also thinking that the glass might break more easily again if the body weren't straightened.
Can anyone direct me?

1983 240d manual

What do you mean "the body isn't quite straight?" Has it been hit and repaired poorly?

__________________
1981 230E, 1984 300D.
-
www.ranwhenparked.net

Your problem may be completely unrelated to the crooked body. I hang on to my cars a long time. Half of them developed annoying leaks around the windshield. The seal gets old a brittle and simply needs to be redone.

__________________
95 E320 Cabriolet, 159K

There are other, more common, places for it to leak. Are you sure its coming from the crack? If the crack isn't in your sight line, you can try a tiny, tiny bead of clear silicone on the inside of the crack to seal it.

These cars have a pretty common windshield water leak where the water leaks around the edge of the glass -- the gasket acts like an inverted siphon. Sometimes (like on my car) it doesn't leak until it sits in the rain for a while, but once it starts, that inverted siphon effect can transport quite a bit of water into the car in a fairly short time. One repair is to run a bead of silicone around that edge -- make sure both gasket edge and glass are clean as it needs to bond well to both to work.

Also, if some of the screws holding the front rain gutters on are missing or loose, water can use those holes to enter the pillar and then leak into the cabin.

My car had both of these leaks.

__________________
'83 300DTurbo http://badges.fuelly.com/images/smallsig-us/318559.png

Broadband: more lies faster.

The way I found out my leak was the windshield seal itself was to have my wife run the hose on the windshield and I stuck my head under the dash. Got it redone, and hasn't leaked since. Can you get any pics of the unstraight body?

Maybe it's bi-sexual.

Sarah,

I've had the same problem with my 240D. Open your hood all the way by pulling out the tiny stops on the hood hinge (I'll post PICS soon). The hood will to a 90 degree angle with the ground. Use a flash light to inspect the pockets that the hinges nest in when the hood is closed. You should see a drainage hole that will drain the rain water down to your wheel well. Mine were plugged up with tiny hard seeds. I used a straightened out wire hanger to pry, prod and push the seeds out of the hole. This may help!

Trip

__________________

If you have a sunroof, it could also be a rusted drain tube.

__________________
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

Windshields are made with laminated glass. Two layers of glass with a very tough flexible stuff in between. For water to get in through a crack, the windshield would have to be very broken. More likely it's getting in past a bad seal or rusted spots under the hood hinges. Those drain holes get plugged with leaves and junk if not kept clean.
Steve

Your point about the laminated glass is excellent. One would practically have to have a hole in the windshield for water to make it to the interior through the windshield itself. Around the windshield is another matter, as are the rust prone areas and drains.

I'm nowhere near my car, so I can't be of much assistance, but why don't some of us post some pictures of these specific areas to help Sarah out?

Sarah, hang in there. We'll work through helping you figure out exactly where water is getting in, and just how to get it to stop leaking. I'm curious, as are others, as to whether you can provide pictures of your 240D. We menfolk are pretty visual, you know. A photo of the windshield and body damage of which you speak could be very useful for diagnostic purposes, too.

Even if you lack a camera, perhaps a friend, family member, or acquaintance has a cell phone camera that they could use to document the car, and could then e-mail the photos to you.

__________________
- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

A replacement windshield will most likely be covered under the "comprehensive" portion of the car's insurance policy, if you have that coverage in force and effect on your policy that you bought.

there are auto glass companies that will come to your house, but pick the BEST not the most convenient one to do the work. You don't want adjustments made later, right? Beest to have it done right the first time.. Many have "lifetime guarantees" on their work...

All you will need to pay is your insurance deductible amount, whatever that is. The insurance company willl take care of the rest of the cost

Take care of it as soon as possible, though, because the water that doesn't drain out will cause rust quickly. (If for some reason you can't I would actually considering drilling a tiny hole in the floorboard, to let the water drain out into the street, rather than sit there, encouraging rust on the floorboard, and mold and mildew in the carpets.)

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

I have cleaned my hood hinge drains and thought that solved my wet floor mat mystery, but here in FL it rains like 6 inches in an hour sometimes, and I get severe water on my floor mats front and back.

This week I felt water dripping on my shoe (right) when I was driving in the rain.

Since it is leaking on both sides, original windshield, should I start looking at windshield seal, or sunroof drain.... Does a leaking seal bring the water in low to the floorboard? I stuck my head under the dash, but without removing the lower dash cover, I didn't see much.

__________________
85 300CD Turbo "Das Polluter" 230K sold for $3,000

98 BMW 323is

In my '85 300D, I also had water dripping on my left foot when it rained. Never did find out exactly, but figured the windshield seal. The rear one leaked on three of the 123's Ive owned. Look in the trunk after a rain.
You may be able to stop the leak by using a tube sealant of some sort, only till you can get a new windshield and seal.
Good luck.

__________________
83 SD

84 CD

I was under the impression that the drain tubes were all rubber. Not that rubber ones couldn't leak, too. I saw a tool in the Harbor Freight tool catalog for a thing like a tiny plumber's snake small enough to clean out clogged sunroof drains. haven't bought one yet, but I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

It's very easy to fix. You need to get a windshield stretcher that is special for the curvature of the W123 windshield. I think ZDMAK has a special on them on fleabay right now.

__________________
DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012