Stupid rear 1/4 pop-out windows.

As I mentioned in the wrong section yesterday the goofy rear 1/4 window on the driver's side fell off the hinges...again. The first time this happened I was on the way to Dallas, had kids in the 3rd row, and one opened it and it fell off....only the actual handle you opened saved it. It was in the 40's and I glued it back to the hinges with rear-view mirror adhesive in the parking lot of an Autozone. I'd since instructed NO ONE to touch those windows.

Well it happend again, one of the kiddos forgot and popped it open, and sure enough, it fell off again.....thankfully at home this time.

So last night I used a razor blade and then sandpaper to clean the old glue and mess off the hinges and the window itself, and then used 60-second Epoxy from the parts store. I folded up some pieces of tape and put them under the hinges to keep them pushed outward beyond the weatherstripping, in hopes that I could get them to seal up well againt the glass, and then dabbed the epoxy on the flat window mounting portion of the hinges themselves, set the window back in place, and used clear tape to tape the window on.

So we shall see! I'm taking the tape off at lunch, after I go to the car wash. Getting ready for the Dallas road trip this weekend. I hope the sucker stays on this time!

-Mike

Put a strip of good 3M duct tape along the hinge side of the glass after cleaning it well.
For God's sake, let those kids have some air!
When they are all teenagers and don't care about riding with dad anymore, you can fix it up pretty again...
and get wistful about the good old days when they did want to ride in it with you.

I've heard the rearview mirror adhesive doesn't work. My solution has always been to swap in working windows lol. There's got to be something that can fix these... Oh, and Jimbeau's right, anyone sitting in the 3rd row seat no matter how high you have the AC cranked is going to be hot back there if it's hot outside. I took a 2.5 hour trip in the third row of one of our wagons a couple years ago, it was pretty lousy, but thank goodness the windows opened or we'd have died.

Yup. With those rear flappers open, a nice cool breeze makes it all the way back there,
as long as you don't have the AC on 'recirculate'.
I am a firm believer that guests in my car deserve as much ventilation as I have.
I wish GM would have followed through on electric openers for them.

I guess I'll see if the epoxy holds for now. Will be on the looking for a new window with the hinges still attached at the salvage yards.

Thanks all.

-Mike

I urethaned mine closed,.they let huge amounts of dust in,. and my guests like quiet airconditioned comfort,.

Nick

I always wonder if they suck exhaust fumes in.......

not when stock, but they do if you exit just after the wheels.

Took the tape off yesterday and the epoxy is holding...but did not pop it open either.

Well... pop it open!

jimbeau wrote:

Well... pop it open!

Scared it'll fall off and have to drive to Dallas....will be in the car all weekend...want nothing broken right now.

Mike:

Isthe Epoxy still holding okay? I will need to reglue soon and have read most everyones take on glues/adhesives and there has yet to be discovered a great holding solution for these windows.

I epoxied my hinge back on well over a year ago, and it's holding fine.

I also find they pull the cool air back to the 3rd row passengers. Now if only they were power vents so I could operate them from the driver's seat when it starts raining...

My thought on adhesive would be glass urethane like they use on the front, vista and side windows. It holds better than anything else I know of, and it is designed for glass to metal. It is also structural. You need to put some urethane "prep" on the bare metal, or the urethane will not stick to it very well.