Vtallysx4

I recently haphazardly patched the rear window leak and it held for a good 6 months but began leaking again. A few months ago I got a new toy (cheap boroscope) and took this as a chance to take some pictures of the leak and where it is located. I will be doing a better job sealing the leak soon but for now I wanted to share the pictures in hopes it helps someone with a similar issue.

The leaking pillar.

The wiring harness that is part of the windshield assembly.

Close up of the wiring harness.

The otuside- in order to fix the issue you need to remove the trim, clean the area well, and seal it. I didn't do a good enough job and so it didn't last.

A water droplet on the harness after I tapped the glass a few times, its only a small split, not in the windshield seal itself but the windshield harness seal- part of the assembly. The location makes it leak pretty good, especially when driving and wind pushes water in.

Anfanger

Good to know, please, update when you can.

roshko

Does the trim just pop up? Mine leaked when I first got my car over a year ago after a thunderstorm, and has not leaked in all that time, even with me washing the car, and driving in heavy ran. Last weekend at the beach it rained and was windy for 3 days straight and I found it wet.

Vtallysx4

there is a process to getting the trim up- first you need to raise the drip rail trim, then slide the trim around the window away from the middle of the car while pushing it down and to either the front or back, I cant recall. If you search for the instructions to remove the rear windscreen it goes through the process as the trim needs to be removed to remove the windscreen. You only really need to remove the driver's side, as this is where the wiring harness runs through the windscreen. There is a foam like gasket that seals the harness into the windscreen assembly making it one piece, and the complete windscreen gasket sits below the assembly- the gasket that split was part of the assembly itself, so I imagine the prim and proper fix is the replacement of the windscreen assembly- seems like a bad design to me though. The split gasket reminded me of the foam gasket used on lincoln town cars around the HVAC fresh air intake in the cowl- it would disintegrate after a few years and quietly leak water into the passenger foot well.

These are ebay listing photos I found of the full assembly.

Same listing, but the inside view, you can kind of see how the harness is part of the glass assembly, it seems to split above the harness next to the glass, not where the metal meets the windscreen gasket (that part was still good). This is my experience, yours may vary.

allanguyen

Could you walk me through how you did it exactly? Sorry to comment on an old post, but I’m having the exact same issue but for the passenger side. I would love to fix it myself, but I can’t find anything to do with this issue except for this post.
Any help is greatly appreciated!

edit: I should mention this issue is for my 2007 is350, but im hoping the process is somewhat similar

Vtallysx4

I took a quick look at pictures of the rear glass on an IS350, I didn't see a wiring harness gasket that might leak, you might need to go to a glass shop to have the adhesive replaced (if they can), or a new rear window. On the LS, it wasn't the glass adhesive that holds the glass on the body that was leaking but the gasket built into the glass for that wiring harness.

allanguyen

Ah ok, thanks for the info. I took it into a shop and they quoted me 150 for the job.
A little more that a bottle of sealant, but it’s better than a moldy headliner.

Protholl

If you are happy with the results you might want to post it in the 2IS forums so others can benefit.