Both front footwell carpets are wet during rains.

Passenger side visor is dripping.
Water seems to be coming from the windshield, upper edge.

Does the seal eventually fail?
I see roof slopes down towards the Windshield Molding

I will get SafeLite to replace the glass.
Should I order Windshield Molding on my own?
That is just cosmetic and is not the water seal, right?
Do they reuse the old one?

Any general tips or warnings when getting the windshield glass replaced ?

 

Sounds like exactly where mine was coming from.
Just to the left (towards the center) from the passenger side visor.
A remove, regunk, and replace stopped mine.
The problem is until they remove the glass you really don't know what is under there.
Could be rotted.
I was having some surface rust issues taken care of, hood and roof, and asked my body guy to handle it.
He in turn called his glass guy. Who is now my glass guy. LOL.
Anyway logic being if there was anything wrong under there my body guy could deal with it.
I bought a new Mopar one for the job.
I don't really see them getting it out in one piece to reuse it.
IMO it is basically cosmetic but it does not lay on top of the window. The window fits in a channel in the molding
and I am guessing that all that gets laid down in one shot once a bead of gunk was laid down first.
But my body guy said that the molding was a little tough to handle.
Thinking cause it is old stock, probably have not made Mopar ones for quite sometime now, and the rubber was
not as pliable as it could have been.
The glass got it to work and it is laid down great though.
The reason I mention that is cause I have read here and there about aftermarket molding not fitting as well as it should.
Since you are getting SafeLite to do it and I am assuming there is some sort of warranty I say let them use all their own parts.

EDIT: I just realized that you did not say what year. Mine is an '00. '97 to '01 are the same.
Not exactly sure how '96 and down windshields are set up as far as molding goes.

 

You're taking this way too far. Get a cartridge of black silicone calking and calking gun. Lift the windshield seal where it over-laps the roof at the center of the vehicle and insert the tip of the cartridge. Start squeezing the grip to inject silicone beneath the seal and slowly pull towards yourself as you continue squeezing the grip. Stop each time you need to get a new grip and then begin moving again while squeezing. Keep one hand down low on the tip of the calking cartridge to prevent the tip from bending and slipping out from under the seal. When you get to the corner stop and keep squeezing until you see some calking squeeze out, then proceed down the side on the seal to the lower corner in the same manner as you did across the top. Stop at the bottom, move to the other side of the windshield in the center again and repeat the foregoing on that side. The critical part is to move slowly while squeezing the grip to ensure you're applying a decent quantity of sealant beneath the seal. You'll see some squeeze out along the way but leave it alone and clean it up after you've completed one side. It won't cure immediately so you have time to clean off the squeeze out.

 

Yea, there is some surface rust starting around the perimeter of the front glass.
Inside the seam, where water may pool, the metal may start to be rotted?

I am tempted to just pull up the moulding, and just squeeze some sealant in there, and call it a day.

Is there any downside to having them replace the glass, that could end up worse?
Like what if they pull the glass, see all this rot, and then can't reinstall the glass?
I guess that makes no sense. They can pull the glass, and just lay down a new bead of sealant.
At worst, it will still leak, but it will either be better or the same, not worse.

I will let them use all their own materials, they do this all day long.

 

There is also a small crack in the glass starting in the upper corner.
I don't care and I have just left it alone,

The water is not coming in from the crack,
but now maybe this leak is an excuse to replace the glass.

 

Well Idunno brings up a good point.
And you won't really know what you will find under there.
Once you go down this road it might snowball into this big thing.
If there is rusting going on under there it will just get worse.

 

If you care about your Jeep, get the windshield pulled and deal with any rust correctly. Globing more sealant under the molding might stop the leaks but it won't stop the rust.

 

Pull the carpet up and deal with any rusting under the carpet and pad. If it's been wet, it will likely need some remediation of rust.

 

If you can see rust starting it's very likely got a hole so your options will vary on a few factors.

Do you want to keep the Jeep in the long term?
Do you have the time to keep it off the road if it needs welding?
Do you have the ability to do the welding work?
Can you justify the cost of getting it repaired at a repair shop?

I had to repair my windscreen frame rust but I do vehicle welding. I had the screen out on the Friday, repaired on the Saturday, painted on the Sunday and a new screen in on Monday.



Remember, rust doesn't sleep and the hole you covered will eventually just grow around the covering.

 

Wow, great photos. I wonder what mine looks like underneath.

No, I can't justify bodywork to keep this XJ running. The days are numbered.
I will get the free insurance Safelite windshield and hopefully a new coating of sealant bides the time.
If I am home when they fix it, I will try to snap a photo like yours

 

I feel sorry for the screen fitter . I bet they tell you there's no guarentee that it won't leak if it is rotten like mine was. At least they will have a good quality sealant to do the job.

 

No, no, no, and NO!

Exactly.


Yep.

IT's time ti pull that glass and repair some rust. Globbing some sealant under the rubber trim will do nothing but ensure that your hole gets a lot bigger before you find out it's a hole.


By the way, that rubber is purely cosmetic. It is not the seal. The urethane glue around the windshield is the seal. You have a rust hole under the rubber and it's growing. If you don't feel competent to replace the windshield, consider removing it yourself so you can clean up the area before having a pro reinstall it (or install a new one).

Take a look at this thread to see what I did with a beater 96 that I don't plan to keep.

 

I can see the primer has been applied over corroded metal. Not good. All corrosion must be removed completely because, no matter how it's coated, it is still retaining moisture in the flaking layers and pitting of the iron corrosion. Coating it locks it in and instead of evaporating after the source of the leak is resolved, it will continue to corrode deeper into the metal and propagate until the remaining metal is dissolved completely by the same galvanic action that started it. Conversely, once the source of the leak is removed the remaining moisture will out-gas to atmosphere (inside the car or laterally beneath the bead of sealant applied under the molding) and remain dormant. Case in point, it is not necessary to remove floorboard corrosion once the source of the leak that started it is resolved. It will dry out and without the electrolytic properties of moisture it will remain dormant. In any event, any corrosion must be ground out back to bright metal before applying any coating. Corrosion prevention coatings are just that - prevention. They cannot and will not stop the continued galvanic action of the corrosion they are lying on top of. Best to simply correct the leak and when time and money permit, completely restore the windshield surround with new metal. Until then, no leak, no appreciable propagation of corrosion.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Got the glass replaced yesterday.

Yes, there was a lot of rust under the glass.
The rust compromises the seal, and then it leaks.
The compromised structure may have also caused the crack in the glass?

Installer asked if I wanted to take the car to a body shop.
Nope, there's no time or money for that. I declined.
This is a winter beater whose days are numbered anyway.
Just do what you can. Wire wheel it down, and slap on some new sealant and glass.

The net result has to be improvement over what it was before, and it cost me $0.
I will report back how long it lasts,.

 

Damn, you could at least have got a wire brush and some rust eating product on there.