[W126 Coupe] RE: Leaking rear window

[Gerry Van Zandt]

Ronny,

I had the rear window seal replaced on my 1989 560SEC late last fall, 
as the rains came here in the Pacific Northwest.  A glass shop a couple 
of blocks from my house charged me $135 for the swap -- I provided the 
OE $100 seal.

I had had a moderate leak inside of the trunk on the passenger side, 
down in the wheel well only.  And it only leaked when there was a 
significant rainstorm.  After a couple of years being frustrated, and 
not wanting to drive the car on rainy days because I didn't want to 
aggravate the condition and create any smell or worse inside of the 
trunk, I purposely left the car out in a driving rainstorm one day.  
Then, I pulled it into the garage and pulled out the inside lining of 
the trunk.  I found the leak, easily -- it was running down from the 
lower corner of the rear windshield seal, down on the wheel well BEHIND 
the interior lining.  Which is why I could only find the RESULT of the 
leak -- the wet deep well where the water would pool.

My normal mechanic shop, MBI Motors, and the local MB dealer, Don 
Rasmussen Co., as well as the glass shop where I had the work done, all 
noted that the makeup (laminated) of the SEC rear window makes it VERY 
fragile and liable to break of any nick or cut is made on the edge of 
it.  All three gave it a 50-50 chance of breaking as it was removed.  
The dealer wanted $300 plus parts ($130 their price) for the job.  I 
decided to take it to a glass specialist because they do this more than 
anyone else, though my shop probably could have handled the job.

It came back end of the day just brilliant. The installer carefully cut 
the old seal and subsequently found two little dots of rust, about the 
size of a penny, underneath.  Luckily nothing was rusted through.  He 
removed the rust and treated the surface with rust preventer, before 
re-installing the window.  The car has sat through MANY winter 
rainstorms and no longer leaks a single drop.  I got off lucky, I 
guess, as I didn't have any rust-through.

Everyone on this list with a 126 sedan or coupe needs to IMMEDIATELY 
grab a flashlight, get into the trunk of the car on their back, and 
shine the light up underneath where the rear window comes down ahead of 
the trunkline.  Basically the area inside the trunk underneath the 
third brakelight.  Run your light along the ENTIRE interior of this 
area, from one side of the trunk to the other.  If you see rust up 
there, you should do something about it, pronto.  This is a well-known 
weakness of the 126 chassis, unfortunately.

A 560SEC rear window, new, was around $900 at the time.  They have had 
3 price increases since then, so I'll bet the price is now around 
$1,000 if not more.

Cheers,
Gerry




On Feb 16, 2005, at 10:38 AM, mbcoupes-request at mbcoupes.com wrote:
>
>
> From: "Ronny Geenen" <ronny.geenen at verizon.net>
> Date: February 16, 2005 10:36:47 AM PST
> To: "Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists" <mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com>
> Subject: Re: [W126 Coupe] Leaking rear window
> Reply-To: Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists <mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com>
>
>
> According to that body shop owner. He always hired a glass guy to take 
> out that shield.
> To avoid breaking that window, he let the guy cut out the rubber seal 
> first.
> A window is to expensive and a new seal cost $99.
> The glass shop cost for taken out and putting it back in place is $85.
> All the other cost is for body work, including some welding and 
> painting and sales tax.
> And I must say he did a good job.
>  
> Ronny Geenen
> Glendora, CA 91740
>  
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