So today I am noticing some leaking at the top and bottom of the windshield. I had an RV specialize come out a few weeks ago and he applied silicone, because we detected a small leak. The leaks, seem bigger after this solution. Thoughts?
Leaking Windshield
- Thread starter pdxbirchy
- Start date
An RV Specialist applied silicone to the windshield seal ? Yeah, don't ever invite that 'specialist' to touch your coach again!
Silicone should be banned completely from anything related to RVs. Anyone that's ever had to deal with a PO's 'repair' of an exterior leak using silicone will understand, you never, ever, use silicone on almost any part of the coach.
Maybe if you want to set a sink or caulk around the tub in the bathroom. Or use RTV to form a gasket if that's your only option, it's handy in a tool kit. But that's about it. The stuff is terrible and has no business being applied to the outside of any coach. It's actually worse than not applying it at all! (as you are finding out)
Try cleaning it up now that it's failed. It always fails, and it's darn near impossible to get every bit of residue removed. (you'll never get it all off)
Try getting some other sealer to stick to it. (hint: nothing sticks to it)
It's absolutely, hands down, my least favorite thing ever done to my coach by a PO. 'Fixes' with silicone. I wish I could go back in time and slap him/her up-side the head. And the jerk that sold him/her that stuff in the first place, I'd like to punch them right in the face.
Silicone should be banned completely from anything related to RVs. Anyone that's ever had to deal with a PO's 'repair' of an exterior leak using silicone will understand, you never, ever, use silicone on almost any part of the coach.
Maybe if you want to set a sink or caulk around the tub in the bathroom. Or use RTV to form a gasket if that's your only option, it's handy in a tool kit. But that's about it. The stuff is terrible and has no business being applied to the outside of any coach. It's actually worse than not applying it at all! (as you are finding out)
Try cleaning it up now that it's failed. It always fails, and it's darn near impossible to get every bit of residue removed. (you'll never get it all off)
Try getting some other sealer to stick to it. (hint: nothing sticks to it)
It's absolutely, hands down, my least favorite thing ever done to my coach by a PO. 'Fixes' with silicone. I wish I could go back in time and slap him/her up-side the head. And the jerk that sold him/her that stuff in the first place, I'd like to punch them right in the face.
Next time, tell us how you really feel!
I tend to agree, but I have had some success with "flowable silicone" fixing auto glass leaks. This is just for when I don't want to make the effort of doing it the right way, pulling the glass out and redoing the urethane bond. This type of silicone will actually flow down into cracks and seal them. I do as much prep as I can with alcohol, compressed air, and a little heat to expel moisture thoroughly. Topical applications are worthless by comparison. I had flowable silicone fix a rear window leak in a rolled Silverado. It worked great for at least 6 years until I sold it to my uncle and it was promptly totaled the second time. It also fixed up a leak on a $400 dollar van (Quest) that had 5 skylights.
Before I knew about flowable silicone, I had a $300 S10 Blazer with a leaky windshield. I fixed that up with a full-width strip of aluminum tape across the top. It never leaked a drop for the next 5 years after that. As a bonus, from 100 feet away, it looked like the upscale model with oxidized chrome windshield trim! Refer to the video at the 50 second mark for a good view of the redneck fix.
I think if you KNOW you're not doing it right, and you KNOW you're going to hate yourself if you ever have to rework that area in the future, then the choice is yours. Flowable silicone can definitely fix the problem. Now if someone has already slopped something topical on there, good luck.
Water intrusion is bad. You've got to stop it no matter what. The big question is, how good of a job do you want to do? How nice do you want it to look? Doing it the right way will involve removing the windshield. If you just want to kick that can further down the road, you've got options.
Is it possible your repairman didn't actually find the point of ingress? Sometimes leaks flow along the inside of the windshield frame a ways before they decide to run out. Sometimes you can spray a soapy mixture all around the outer frame of a windshield, and blast lots of compressed air around the inside of the windshield until some bubbles start forming.
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All good points. We did an extensive water test and have determined, for now, that the water leak isn't actually in the windshield but maybe it is coming from the roof lights, actually. More to come! Why didn't you all tell me these things were money pits? 
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Mine were leaking. They are also massively unreliable. I spent a lot of time on the roof with a shotgun brush and silicon grease. Then I gave up. This turned out to be a very good thing to do. I bought a complete set of LED version that look just like the OE and a good portion of butyl rubber bedding and did go up on the roof again for years.
Matt
Matt
