Leaking Divide Channel

[dn010]

Sorry if this has come up before, I did a half-assed search and came up empty.

I don't typically leave my car in the rain but today I decided that I would in order to effortlessly clean the garage dust off it and also make sure it doesn't leak water. Well, turns out it does leak water.

Whatever sealant that was used between the fixed door glass and the divide channel for the drop glass has some pin holes allowing some rain water to leak inside and slowly drip down the door panel and onto the carpet. Not terrible but I don't want any leaks should I ever need to have the car out in the weather. This has happened on the passenger side of my car once already and I used a thin line of clear silicone on the outside to correct it.

I'd like to fix this permanently on both sides of my car. The clear silicone looks awful. Is the divider able to be removed without removing the fixed glass? What sealant should I use?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

[dn010]

[Rich]

Looks familiar to me. One of the drop glass divider channels started leaking the same way on one side of our car. Shortly thereafter it became a bit loose such that it dropped 1-2mm when the drop glass lowered. I fixed it about 10 years ago. Did the other side at the same time just to stay ahead. It was so long ago I may not have it exactly right so others can correct any goofs here.

Any good 1-part black urethane will do. For example, 3M Windo-Weld 08609 comes in a 10.5oz caulking tube and is easy to use if you have a caulking gun.

Silicone sealant belongs nowhere near auto glass.

As for getting the divider out to work on it? Open the window all the way. If the divider channel is already loose on the fixed glass carefully de-bond it from from the fixed glass by press it down to break what's left of the seal and drop it down into the door cavity far enough to clear the glass and then lift it out. Depending on where the leak is and how well the divider's attached to the fixed glass you may want to seal it without removing it.

Clean surfaces or interfaces that were leaking, then prep them with a wipe of alcohol before sealing it up with the black urethane.

[dn010]

Thanks Rich. After thinking about it a bit, I figured I'd end up having to use urethane, I'm very familiar with it- just sucks that it's so expensive and I'll probably end up tossing more than half of it out. It's a shame I didn't know these leaked when I installed my windshield, I could have used the excess from that! But it needs to be fixed so, what can you do right?

So, the divider isn't fixed by screws or rivets? I seem to remember when I sold a window that the divider had tabs on either side with a hole.

This would probably be a great time to replace my shrunken wipe seals and fix drop glass alignment on the carrier - something else I can use the urethane for!

[Rich]

....So, the divider isn't fixed by screws or rivets? I seem to remember when I sold a window that the divider had tabs on either side with a hole.

This would probably be a great time to replace my shrunken wipe seals and fix drop glass alignment on the carrier - something else I can use the urethane for!

Maybe the later cars have a fastener for the divider but our early-VIN D doesn't. I'm not seeing fasteners listed for it in the parts diagrams, either.

Since you don't need to get into the door for the divider channel I don't see the connection other than, as you say, using up more of the urethane. But you could store it for a while after first use - it has a long shelf life. You may need a new nozzle if you can't get the cured sealant out of the old one - but I think the nozzle is made of something urethane doesn't stick to.

[dn010]

I was able to remove the driver side divider this weekend. It did simply just pull right down and out, the only thing holding it in was some RTV on the corners that meet the window. Oddly there were no tabs at all on the bottom of my divider like the one I sold. Now my question is, do I fill the channel with urethane and reinstall or do I scrape out all the old crud that is in the channel and then refill it with urethane? There was a wire hanging out of the bottom of that channel as if there is a rubber spacer or some sort of strip installed.

There really is no connection to the other work, maybe the closest would be the wipe seals because they just push down and clip into the door without removing anything. Really it's more of a long to-do list on/in the doors that might as well be taken care of at the same time. Re-tinting the windows would be perfect now that the divider is removed. Otherwise, I have a power mirror that won't work up/down (faulty connector), a mirror switch that needs to be rebuilt, drivers door lock won't unlock the passenger side, passenger drop glass that needs to be reset - might as well get it all done.

Amazing how many things can add up, just when you think you're almost done.

[Rich]

OK, you have the channel out.
In reverse order of the points below.
- Yes, you could tint the windows with the dividers out. If you plan to "tuck in" the edge of the film at the drop glass so it's covered by the channel then you'll have to scrape out the sealant to make room for the thickness of the film. Measure first to be sure the divider channel gap is wide enough and leave a bit of room for the sealant.
- On mine I just added urethane again on the old urethane and it has worked fine. Did not scrape out the channel, only made sure it had a clean surface by doing an alcohol wipe, same on the glass.
- You say there was RTV on the corners. That sounds like silicone to me. If you are sure it was silicone if it was on more than a little bit of your channel then find a way to get it all off of the glass and the channel before you repair anything. I don't know what it takes to do that. I do know that urethane doesn't stick to silicone or to anything that had silicone on it before unless it was cleaned - really, really cleaned before the urethane goes on.

I was able to remove the driver side divider this weekend. It did simply just pull right down and out,
.....the only thing holding it in was some RTV on the corners that meet the window.
.....Now my question is, do I fill the channel with urethane and reinstall or do I scrape out all the old crud that is in the channel and then refill it with urethane? There was a wire hanging out of the bottom of that channel as if there is a rubber spacer or some sort of strip installed. No idea what that wire is for on yours.
....Re-tinting the windows would be perfect now that the divider is removed.

[dn010]

I already tinted the windows about 15 years ago. Back then in NY the legal limit was 20%. It was a PITA to cut the tint around the divider and for the drop glass. I should have taken the drop glass out but I wanted to get it done. The bottom corners of the drop glass caught on the divider gasket and the corners of tint came loose and had to be cut. Doesn't look good plus I'd rather go with different tint today in Florida.

Anyway.

The sealant is RTV and it was a friend of mine long ago who thought it wise to apply on the divider to fill the gaps between the shrunken wipe seal/divider/window. I will leave the channel alone and just clean it out. I prefer to use the urethane primer, haven't had luck with just wiping down with alcohol but for this little amount I think I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Thanks again for your help Rich, I'll let you know how this works out.

[Rich]

If you have urethane primer and know how to use it then go for it.
I skipped it and the job held up til now, 10 years on.

Let us know how it turns out.

[dn010]

I've decided to forego the primer, for windshields that are part of the structure I'd definitely go for it but for this I think I'll try getting by with cleaning the glass with chemicals and going from there. If I had good primer I'd use it, I've found it difficult to find a bottle that is in-date and not only that it goes bad fast so whatever I do possibly have is long dried up.

Nonetheless, had a chance to work on the D today- Passenger side divider removed. Drop glass removed, carrier removed from the glass. What a PITA! But it's done and out. After debating if I really want to do even more work, I removed the tint. I cleaned up the glass nicely and called it quits. Tomorrow I hope to get to the driver side glass to remove the tint and clean everything up.

On a side note, I've read mixed information on whether to glue the drop glass to the carrier using the dimples as a guide or to glue it to the carrier and then immediately install it, put the window up and have it self-align. I will do the self-align method, only my carrier is rusted so I'll have to wait for the weekend to fire up the sand blaster to remove the rust and give a good base for the urethane to stick to.

The saga continues...