first gen windshield leak; by Thermo

[JUST4FUN]

The short of the story is that the upper corner on the driver's side will break away from the seal (due to flexing of the body most likely). Once the seal is broken, water running down the roof (and over the windshield) gets trapped between the windshield and the body. This allows the water to leak around the seal. At this point the water then sticks to the windshield (capillary effect) and works its way down to the lower driver's corner. Since this is the low point, the water will start to build up there. Once sufficient water is there, it will drip off of the windshield, at which point is falls straight down on to the GEM module. Since the GEM module sits in a little cup on top of the fuse box, the water builds up there and eventually finds its way into the GEM module. Once inside the GEM module, what circuits it shorts out or causes to go haywire is hard to say.

 

[JUST4FUN]

Well i at least saved your text, trying to delete my post everything was gone. so i reposted it. we can leave it open to add to it

 

[TurboPirate]

The short of the story is that the upper corner on the driver's side will break away from the seal (due to flexing of the body most likely). Once the seal is broken, water running down the roof (and over the windshield) gets trapped between the windshield and the body. This allows the water to leak around the seal. At this point the water then sticks to the windshield (capillary effect) and works its way down to the lower driver's corner. Since this is the low point, the water will start to build up there. Once sufficient water is there, it will drip off of the windshield, at which point is falls straight down on to the GEM module. Since the GEM module sits in a little cup on top of the fuse box, the water builds up there and eventually finds its way into the GEM module. Once inside the GEM module, what circuits it shorts out or causes to go haywire is hard to say.

Evidence of what JUST4FUN is saying, I have problem with A/C turning ON when ignition is OFF and SUV it's just parked. Check out the link
http://www.expeditionforum.com/showthread.php?t=16045

 

[aircargoo]

this is important post.......this problem will cost BIG money to fix. run a hose ove windshield with tissue from inside.run water for a while.i did and found leak. i got lucky....car dried and never happened again.wouldve cost over 1000 dollors.computer ect is there.

 

[kingpin]

That happened to me.
Radio started going funky, windows would work when they wanted to.
I found out when water started to come out of the "oh ****" handle on the pillar.

I had my windshield replaced and everthing is okay except the cruise control doesn't work any more.

 

[Bamfster]

I'm new to the Expeditions ... just bought an '01 XLT and had the wonky electronics start/wet carpet etc. It did have a new W/S put in prior to me buying it and not any evidence of prior leakage. Thanks to finding this forum, I was able to track it down and figure out what the heck was going on. I was able to dry everything out, and everything works correctly once again.

A basic question that I haven't seen answered yet after much searching:

What is the actual "fix" for the leaky windshield? I know everyone says to have it re-sealed, but what does that entail?.... New W/S gasket, just add some glass sealant when re-installing the glass, or????

 

[Big White]

Had the same issue with my04. Brought it to the glass shop, and he hit the inside upper edge with compressed air, and listened to the outside. You can immediately hear the leak. He then pushed on the window there, and you could see it was loose.

 

[Thermo]

Bamfster, the fix for the leaky windshield is really a function of how long you let it go before you enacted the fix. At a minimum, you need to have a new seal put on the windshield. This will prevent the water from intruding back into the truck.

As for other things, some members have been fortunate to simply pull the GEM module out, dump the water out of the module and all be good (yes, water came out of the module). Others have not been so fortunate and they had to replace their GEM modules. The GEM module pretty much controls everything electric inside the cab of the truck. So, when it starts going bonkers, you get lots of interesting things to happen.

 

[Bamfster]

Oh yea, I went nuts trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I let it sit outside for a few days with the windows down and so far no more problems. I did have my glass guy come out and we used compressed air from the inside and found a few spot where apparently there wasn't enough sealant laid down. He put a healthy bead around it, and a few days later I hit it with the pressure washer and so far so good.

 

[JCHUD]

I had water leak in same area but it did not effect anything electronic. I thought it was windshield after finding technical service bulletin on it and had windshield resealed but it didn't fix leak. The leak was actually coming from behind door weatherstripping near upper corner of windshield. I found a small hole in the body seam/pinch weld and filled with either a urethane or silicon sealer.