The rubber on the passenger side/corner of my discos windscreen is loose and I have a small intermittent puddle (still!) in the passenger footwell.

Im going to bond the rubber back on as soon as my PU sealant arrives. I happened to mention this to a local mechanic who told me in no uncertain terms that "it wont be the windscreen, theyre bonded on"

Is he right or can windscreens leak like I suspect?

Cheers

They can leak. usually it the bonding has a gap or as happened in one my old work vans wasnt applies on the frame properly. But could also be corrosion on the frame. do you have sunroof? as if drain pipe blocked or broken off can form puddles in footwell. I jad a jeep cherokee which leaked into footwell via heater air intake

i recently got a crack in my windscreen, ended up being a replacement job, and the guys who were replacing it said that there wasnt much bonding left on my windscreen (also had a puddle in passenger footwell). needless to say the new windscreen (also comes with new trim/seals) sorted that right out for me. no idea how you can get round that other than replacing the windscreen of getting a lot of bonding goo out.

To remove a bonded windscreen the fitter has to cut through the old bond with a very sharp knife. Almost without exception this will cut into the metal of the aperture. This is then an ideal place for rust to start that will either push the bond away or rot into the metal, or both.

Up until a few years ago most fitting companies would treat the aperture with a rust inhibitor before they squirted on the new bond but they then realised that this made them liable for any rust that beat their inhibitor. With the windscreen fitting company liable for the windscreen and the bond for the life of the windscreen this resulted in some very expensive repairs being done years after a screen had been fitted.

Nowadays, if you're lucky, the fitter might note any rust on his job sheet and a very good one might try to ensure that it's encased in bond but usually he's pressed for time so it's a quick cut out, a quick trim up of the old bond, squirt in the new and slap in the screen.

What I'm saying is, if you think that you have rust in the aperture, then the only long term repair is to have the aperture properly repaired between screens.

Or as a temp measure try roof and gutter silicone. it the black stuff that thicker than normal stuff. but warm it up first so it flows easier. it wont give a perminant fix but could try it to make sure it from round the screen

egor8384 said:

They can leak. usually it the bonding has a gap or as happened in one my old work vans wasnt applies on the frame properly. But could also be corrosion on the frame. do you have sunroof? as if drain pipe blocked or broken off can form puddles in footwell. I jad a jeep cherokee which leaked into footwell via heater air intake

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Ive just been out and carefully poured a kettles worth of water around the front passenger corner of the open front sunroof taking care not to spill any through the open sunroof, it drained out the bottom of the A pillar gutter (litterally gushed out) and a very little puddle appeared on the passenger footwell floor, I did it again maybe slightly more over enthusiastically than I should have and it literally gushed in! and started dripping though the headling between the grab handle and map storage area! Its looking like this may be my mystery leak and fingers crossed to finding an easy fix.

Ive read somewhere that if the sunroof rubber seal is up to scratch it wouldnt even matter if the gutters were blocked/broken as water wouldnt even get that far, is this true? should I start by looking at the rubbers before start to pull down the headlining?

In my opnion it will always let someting past as the glass can move. id have a look at hte drain pipe as may have a split but would still give the seal a good check and any doubt change it. plus a liberal coat of vasaline or similar