Every time it rains or I wash the car I find water in the trunk of my '85 300D. Its not coming in from the trunk seals but form somewhere else. I one time saw drips running down both humps of the wheel wells in the trunk but I couldn't figure exactly where they were coming from. Is it possible the rear window seal has gone bad and rotted out some holes in the pinchweld area? Anyone else have this problem?

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DJ


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

.Its a bad rear windshield gasket. I had to have 2 fixed.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

There are two kinds of 123 owners: those that get water in their trunk and those that are about to.

A gasket should take care of it but, when you pull the glass you'll probably find that the pinch weld is toast...rusted away. Be prepared to take action.

Search on "rust rear window pinch weld"...plenty there.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Sounds like I would be opening a big can of worms in any case. I might as well leave it as it is. With my luck, I'd never be able to get it back to the condition its in now. I'll just keep the truck drains clean. I guess they're there for that very reason.

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DJ


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

"There are two kinds of 123 owners: those that get water in their trunk and those that are about to. "

The third type of W123 owners would be those that bite the bullet and get if fixed....:p $200.00 ouch

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Cheap fix.... Silicon stuff they sell just for windshield gaskets. Did this on my Diesel Datsun... Leak gone! Granted I did find one particular spot with seperation and I filled it with the stuff very cleanly. That spot doesnt leak anymore and looks better than any part of the car. Unfortunatly the rest of the car is a rusted out piece of #!$%^.

Engine and drive line is AWSOME though.

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"If anyone knows other lessons I need to learn, please tell me. I'm tired of learning them the hard way".
by JerryBro

The Glow Plug Wait: This waiting period is a moment of silence to pay honor to Rudolph Diesel. The longer you own your diesel the more honor you will give him". by SD Blue

My normal daily life; either SNAFUed- Situation Normal... All Fouled Up, or FUBARed- Fouled Up Beyond All Repair

62 UNIMOG Camper w/617 Turbo, 85 300SD daily driver- both powered by blended UCO fuels

"Cheap fix.... Silicon stuff "

Thats sure worth a try. Our local auto glass shop offered to try and fix mine with silicon and if it didnt work they would apply the cost ($44.00) to the price of changing the gasket. They couldnt get the silicon to work on mine.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

I don't have $200 clams to spend on this leak. I'm going to try to fix it with the silicone windshield seal.
could anyone give more specific info on how to first clean it? what tools do i need. compressed air? any specific recommendations on the seal brand?
last minute tips and pitfalls? thanks in advance

jennifer

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Jennifer
90 350sdl

Yes, have done this type cleaning lots of times.... you need some thin but not sharp items to wrap 2 inch by 2 inch pieces of old t-shirt material ( need lots of them)... soft but won't break up like paper towels, etc.. except those blue paper cleaning deals are fine...
See if you can find one of those plastic tools which are used to work on placing windshield gaskets in place.. maybe two of them to straddle a few inches to hold the gasket up off the window.. then use the t-shirt material in the little opening between them... this is a job where tight space working ability and patience pay off.. with your job training I expect you will be a pro at this...then I use lacquer thinner to wet the t-shirt piece and wipe out the dirt and possible waxes from spray waxing the car.. which would interfer with the sticking of the silicone....
Any of the big name suppliers should have fine products on this one...
Many people concentrate on the top of the outside of the glass.... because you can usually see the big cracks there.... but also really do a good job on the TOP of the BOTTOM... the area where all the water which hits the glass first hits rubber.... most leaks are there.. it goes in, down , up and then into the trunk...
So you keep cleaning , overlapping the cleaning areas, and not quitting until you only come out with a little black ( from the rubber )...

From: water leaking problem (rain)

Windshield reseal
Your windsheld gasket may be shot. They pull up in the lower corners as they age and collect water which then can make it's way past the glass and into the cabin.

A short term fix is to seal it with 3M 08606 polysulfide sealer.

First, clean out all the dirt and crud that has accumulated in these openings. I used "Simple Green™" and a rag wrapped around a flat-tipped screwdriver to scoop out the 20 year accumulation of guk.

Then, use 3M blue tape to mask off all the glass where the rubber gasket meets the glass, and where the painted body meets the gasket. Next, cut the tip of the sealer tube so that it has absolutely the smallest opening possible. Pry up the rubber where it meets the glass, insert the tip of the sealer tube and carefully move the tip along the gasket/glass joint while applying a small bead of sealer along the opening you've created with the tip.

Don't put too much sealer in there; you should be putting just enough sealer in the gap so that when the gasket returns to it's original position a tiny bead of sealer is pushed out from underneath the gasket.

Take it easy. It's easier to come back and apply more sealer than it is to clean up the excess.

Do the same thing for the gasket /body side of the joint.

Clean up any excess sealer that you've gotten on the masking tape and, if you can, let the whole thing sit overnight. Then, remove the tape and go.

This should work for back glass as well. But, I'd imagine that the wide trim on the sedans will make this a little more problematic. On my wagon, it was even easier too do on the back glass.

Before this, my wagon's windshield had a niggling drip that appeared right behind the mirror and there was evidence of water coming into the cabin at the lower front corners of the windshield and the back glass would leak like a sieve in even the lightest rain. Now, a month and a couple of rains later, it's still nice and dry in both the front and back.

Good luck.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Still a couple of questions regarding water in the trunk.

Even after I fix (or replace) the window gasket seals, how do i drain/dry out the trunk? And by drain, I mean, is there some sort of reservoir or pan underneath that can be drained, cleaned out and dried? or is it a situation where one literally has to dry out the trunk with a hairdryer or some sort of thing.

It's been raining in California and I'm just realizing I suffer from wet trunk syndrome also.

In the lower sections of the trunk, behind the wheel wells and beneath the spare tire, there is a flexible plug you can remove to drain the trunk.

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Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

In the lower sections of the trunk, behind the wheel wells and beneath the spare tire, there is a flexible plug you can remove to drain the trunk.

thank you...it's gonna be dry and sunny here in SoCal this weekend (75-80...I know. It's tough living in L.A. ).

I now have a weekend project.

How about $150
I bought my gasket for $50+ from adsitco.com. A local glass guy charged $100 for the install. I found someone that does older cars, not the people that run around in the trucks doing installs - most of them have never done an old windshield with a gasket and chrome trim

Leaks gone The person doing the install showed me where the PO had it repaired with caulk - I wouldn't have been able to tell if he hadn't pointed it out to me.

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'85 300D - 206K (sold)
'81 240D - 149K (sold)
'03 Jetta TDI - (sold)
'79 300D - (sold)

"Cheap fix.... Silicon stuff they sell just for windshield gaskets."

I did this and posted pictures I think... an advanced search with my name should turn it up...

About $20 total.... and worked great.. and did not take the chance the old glass would break getting it out and back in....