Tinted glass window water leaks anyone?

Someone recently mentioned that A-S receive Boxers from the manufacturer with clear glass windows and get Autoglass to apply the dark tinted film. My son and I were talking today about both of us having had in the past water leaks from failures in the rubber window seals, his was in a Peugeot car which Autoglass fixed, mine in a classic camper where I used silicone sealant. Reading that Boxers' tinted windows didn't come from the factory but were an after market install it got me thinking.

Does anyone know if it is Autoglass who A-S use, does Autoglass have to remove the glass window to apply the tinted film, has anyone had a water leak from a tinted fixed glass window in a panel van?

I had a leak on the sliding door window of my Stanway when we first got it. It was under warranty to Marquis sent out autoglass to replace the window and arranged for me to then attend a separate company to have the tint applied. It was a perfect match.

Yes they are bonded on, I watched the autoglass guy remove and replace ours.......

Bernilynn wrote:Yes they are bonded on, I watched the autoglass guy remove and replace ours.......

I'm interested in a brief description of how the modern window gets changed? Is there anything more why the leak happened? This method of fixing glass vehicle windows is new to me.

Vehicle windows seem now to be just stuck onto the bodywork using some mastic adhesive. Did they remove the window using a cheese wire to cut through the mastic?
I found a couple of youtube clips but they only show a fancy gadget being used to swing the window into place, a push here and there seems all that's needed, and single handed too.

I would have expected that a mastic seal will have been better than the more traditional rubber surround, but not in the case of your van.

The tint on our Kemerton Xl  windows looks to be on the inside, so must have been applied to the window before it was fixed on the vehicle.

The leak tends to be in the part of the window that opens and not through the seal.

Recently had both of my opening windows changed under warranty by Peugeot, one of the drains was blocked and both windows had a discoloration under the opening windows. They sent it to a local auto window company and they tinted the Peugeot supplied new windows and fitted. However during the last storm a particularly exposed window did allow a small amount of water to get in between the bottom inside of the glass and the sliding door body work. I think these sort of windows will always leak if it's blowing a gale

woodlice wrote:Recently had both of my opening windows changed under warranty by Peugeot, one of the drains was blocked and both windows had a discoloration under the opening windows. They sent it to a local auto window company and they tinted the Peugeot supplied new windows and fitted. However during the last storm a particularly exposed window did allow a small amount of water to get in between the bottom inside of the glass and the sliding door body work. I think these sort of windows will always leak if it's blowing a gale

How long is the Peugeot warranty on Boxer windows? It's Peugeot rather than A-S who you have a warranty claim with?

On another thread I got the impression that because A-S were involved with the tinting of the windows the warranty shifted to them. What's the true story of how the Boxer windows get tinted, from the Peugeot factory or are Autoglass involved?

How are glass windows themselves fixed to a van? I could include cars too, because I've a 2005 car with no obvious rubber seal around the windscreen. Are glass windows now just stuck on with a bead of adhesive mastic, or a sort of very sticky seal whose length can be cut to size?

So nobody then has had a water leak coming through a fixed tinted Boxer window? Interesting

My 3 year warranty was almost up and Autosleeper said it was a Peugeot problem. First Peugeot dealer said to take it up with Peugeot customer care, it took a while but eventually they said take it to a different dealer and that dealer pushed the claim even though it was out of warranty by then. The window is bonded with some sort of sealent. They cut the windows off with a long wire a bit like a giant cheese cutter.

The front screen I have just had replaced on the WXL was bonded using a black mastic which cures enough for you to be able to drive the vehicle in 30 minutes, the side windows are bonded to the van the same way

the sealant has a hardener mix in the nozzle as you apply the sealant  so the vehicle can be moved in 30 mins or the older  just plain sealer has to stand for 4 hours before you can move so Relaxes if the surface was not clean when they bonded your window this could be your leak .its more likely to leak when driving from the vacuum if a small area is not bonded .i have seen a new van leak at the rear wheel arch that was not sealed correct from new

Thanks glyne, viewing the sealant isn't easy as the gaps are narrow, I used a torch and mirror to have a look and the window fixing sealant seems sound. I suppose that doesn’t mean that the sealant is definitely making things fully watertight.

If you've followed my thread in chat about my mystery piece of plywood, I mentioned that on the morning after we had some heavy rain last week, I found a small amount of water just inside the lower fridge vent. Inside there's a sort of plywood surround, if there was any excess of water it wouldn't have stayed there, it would probably have run down into the floor area under the fridge. There'd be no guide as to the amount of water that entered, except I got raised damp readings compared to the previous day's readings in the floor below the fridge. Some minutes later I triggered a flow of rain water (I assume) with some kitchen roll, it ran out the back of the van onto the ground, the total in excess of perhaps 30mls. The stainless steel sliding door track is just above the lower fridge vent. The water might have come in from there instead, rather than in through a fridge vent.

Anyway, how effective should we expect the Thetford fridge vents to be at keeping the rain out?

I've found one report on the web of water ingress from the Boxer's sliding door channel.

What sort of slope are you saying you park on at home?
Ours at storage is nose down on a good slope, which is good for the solar panels as it also faces South. No problems with rain getting in but have too always make sure scuttle drain holes are clear below windscreen.
Good luck with your investigations.

When the dark nights started last October I changed to driving up our drive when returning home, the tinted windows made judging the turning point when reserving more awkward as I didn't want to stray from our drive onto the grass. The slope is enough to overcome the slight front down stance of the Boxer van. Marbles as I say roll to the back of the van. When it rains water collects towards the rear of our solar panels.

Our Kemerton XL's sliding door seal isn't the cause of our water ingress, though I accept for many this can be an issue, along with its sliding window. If it were from the sliding door in our van, the single seat would get it first, as would too the locker between the seat and the fridge. Damp readings on the floor of this locker are acceptable.

Has nobody had any significant rain water coming in through the fridge vents?

rgermain wrote:The fridge vents on our Duo seem to keep water out, they have a very fine mesh on the inside attached to the vents, having recently had the vents off to fix the gas burner, I did not notice any signs of water stains etc.

Once I did flood the van floor, water coming out of the cupboard by the shower, after using the shower, maybe on a slope? never did find out how it happened, but it did run down inside the van and made it to the rear doors after soaking the carpets etc.
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Richard

What's your make of fridge, ours is a Thetford and there's no mesh on the inside of our vents, I wish there were. I expect having the mesh would prevent so much water getting inside because it would reduce it's velocity, also it might stop insects getting inside. Recently when I found and removed a loose piece of plywood resting on the fridge vanes behind, I noticed two small flies on the wood.

I had thought of starting a separate thread about people's experience of ingress of insects. More in France than in the UK I've found what looked like woodworm beetles that had flown in. Ants too, in northern Spain the campsite by the beach meant you couldn't avoid parking over an ants nest., they climbed up our campervan’s waste pipe into our van, fortunately the food cupboard was on the opposite side. This campsite was at Orio sadly it's no longer there, now just a car park. I remember the surf breakers were strong enough to challenge the security of any woman's swimwear.

Relaxez
to test if a screen was the cause of a leak I tape round the screen if it stops leaking then its screen out and rebond. looking at the window above the lower vent on your van you could tape round the window and tape some polythene to cover the fridge vent fully to test when not in use if this stops the leak .then after the next heavy rain remove polythene from fridge vent then check after next rain remove tape from window and see. insulation tape is best to use