W123 windshield replacement-water leak/long post
 

As you all know, I've had this really annoying water leak problem for a couple months. I took out the drivers side carpet and pads. They were totally soaked in the last storm. I pulled apart the carpets from the pads,
laundered the carpets and dried the pads over a couple WEEKS! They finally dried out......then I found the left passenger side was FULL of water, that I missed, after a couple storms. I did the clean up drill on those carpets and it took even longer to dry that pad. The water is dripping down from somewhere in the left windshield, and running down
to the little space/ "water reservoir" by your left foot. It overflows into the vacuum hose channel, and migrates to the passenger footwell. Since
all the carpets are now removed, I just throw a whole roll of paper towels
down now when it rains. I called a reputable glass guy, bought a new OEM
gasket( 130.00 ), and and OEM windshield (246.00). This glass guy told me he wouldn't even do the job without an OEM gasket, so take note of that.

He also stated he wouldn't do it without a true BUTYL sealant.

That sealant has been banned where I am, and he said he could get it from Canada where it was on backorder. I went on line and sure enough I found that it is hard to get in CA. Are there alternatives? Does this get used around the window gasket between the gasket and the body, or the gasket and the glass? I've done about 3 windshields on 60's cars, and didn't use any sealant at all successfully. I broke my fourth attempt at a windshield install on a vehicle, so I hired this guy to do the TD.
I want this install to be done properly. Is this sealant nessesary? I don't
want to wait for the backordered Butyl. Is this guy stalling me or something? He has the best tech rep in the area. I'm not used to hiring
anybody, as I always do my own work on everything. I'm not used to failing,hehhe, and I hate being at the "mercy" of other people's schedules.
So is this elusive BUTYL necessary, or am I being "schedule manipulated"?
I plan on keeping this TD until I croak and want it done as properly as
I WOULD DO IT :>) Opinions please.
Yes I have cleared all the drain points, including the cowl vent today.
It HAS to be the windshield gasket, heh, I hope. Comments folks?

MB sells the correct sealant, your local dealer should have it in stock, sorry i don't have the part #.

I just replaced the front windshield seal on my W115 about 3 months ago and didn't use any sealant, no leaks so far.

I just replaced me 240's windshield seal, using no sealant. I live in the Pacific Northwest were we get rained on pretty hard all the time, and we get wet in about October and we don't dry out until april or may. I haven't had any leak issues. If you are using an OEM seal you don't need any sealant.

That damn leak
 

After the leak is sealed, I hope, what do you guys do about killing
that damn smell? I'm going to wash all the hard surfaces with a simple bleach and water solution. It looks like a PITA to remove the driver's
seat and all the "vertical" edge carpets, as they are glued down.
Once the leak is fixed and everything is dry, will that DAMN SMELL go away. or do I have to rip out all the gluedown carpets an launder them,
or when they are all dry will the smell go away?
Damn, I would sooner deal with replacing a friggin' motor. That I could do
in my sleep. This water leak is pissing me off more than a water pump replacement on my Jag V-12 motor!! More than the shift-kit I did on that
Jag!! More than even BODY WORK!!:eek:

Part number for the OEM window gasket sealant is 001-989-31-20

Have your dealer order it. I ordered one from Phil and for some reason it is not safe to mail it but it is safe to have it mailed to a dealership :confused:

Where in Canada are you located?

I am so confuzzled. How is a water leak stinky?

Oh and don't use bleach. The last thing you'd want are bleach stains :eek:

Is your seal dry rotted?

I had windshield leaks in both of my W123s in the bottom corners. But the seal looked OK, not dry rotted. I ordered the tube of MB non hardening sealant from the parts section here. The dealer also has it or can order it. It comes with a special nozzle that slips between the glass and gasket. It fixed the leak I was having. But mine was nowhere near as severe as what you are describing.

My first attempt was with black caulking from the auto parts store. It is not non hardening and it was a total waste of time and money.

That is what happened to me in the rear of the car. I was getting a slow leak on the right side of the window that was pooling in the wheel well. I resealed the entire window gasket. I'm kinda ashamed of my job, but it worked almost too well. No leak, but water still pools in the tiny divot between the window and the gasket.

I'm not in Canada
 

I'm in CA Cailifornia. Land of VOC bans. Since I'm old, and I'm commited
to driving this TD to my grave, I DO NOT want to replace this windshield
ever again, unless it get's a really big..Canadian GOOSE strike! I just want to know if a sealant is the "standard of care" when installing a windshield
and where said sealant goes, between the gasket and glass, or the gasket
and the body.

When I ordered it here, it came to my home address, drop shipped from a supplier somewhere.

Hm I wonder what makes southwest PA different from Northwest PA. I'm on the lake in Northeast in Erie county. I wonder if there is some ordinance somewhere that prohibits a shipment like that.

Either way the cost to get it from Phil or my dealer was the same so I didn't really care.

Maybe it is a recent change. I think it was about a year ago that I got mine.

The leak isn't smell it's the mildew and mold that starts growing thats smelly. They are several type of powdered stuff you can can sprinkle on carpet then vacuum up to kill smell. I'm sure once it all dries out though the smell will go away.

Windshields
 

I've done a 61 Corvette, a 51 Chevy convertible, a 66 GMC pickup, 8* Ford Courier, then that Dodge Ram that I broke TWO windshields on. That
drove me in humiliation,to hiring folks to do my windshields:D. I just want it done properly

D'oh!

I had a smell of a certain herb in my car. :eek: Last time I let my friend smoke cigarettes with the window cracked. :mad:

Instead of bleach and harsh chemicals try using an ionizer. My parents had one given to them when our leather furniture had some slight mold growth from packaging when we moved.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=gYd&q=air+ionizer&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=12092753269178779628&ei=a-NPS8WXEc-Xtgemt9G3CQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=6&ved=0CDYQ8gIwBQ#

That is actually the ionizer I had. I left it in my car for an hour and went back. Sure enough the smell had vanished! The mild smell in your car may hang out longer so you might consider doing it over night.