Sorry Jamie, I am in N W Wisconsin. I just left it in the hands of my insurance. Turns out I don't even have a deductible. I just hope they get to the bottom of it versus just writing a check.

Ryun
Out of everything you read where do you see that it says Sir Slam A Lot used a round bead.The hole point of this was for helpful ideas.
Key word helpful.

I had this same thing happen to me years ago only it was 1 grand not 6. You said the job was done 5 months ago and your customer was unaware of any leak. Go to the dealer and ask to see the damaged part. Get specifics on how the leak was fixed. I can almost guarantee you it was not the windshield.

My situation involved a direct referral from my largest agent so I had to pay. Plus, the dealer would not release the vehicle until it was paid. Weather you have insurance or not, this is a lot of money to pay for something that someone else says you are liable for not to mention that you had no chance to verify anything before the dealer destroyed any and all evidence.

Might want to check car fax to see if it has ever been in a collision before you start. I was blamed once for a leak a couple of years after the install and it turned out to be the hood release cable that had been recently replaced.

Yes Sir, There is one in every crowd!!! , I say many many times, Even the best installer in the World will have a re-do every once in a while, I have worked with many installers that rolled their eyes and could of cared less when they had a re-do, I take a re-do personally , If it is a leak, I want to know what and why it happened and fix it the right way. The word REPUTATION was used more than once in the comments, and that is Everything to me, I worked very hard for my reputation. My Wife told me last night... "Why are you letting this bother you so much?" Also, The Vehicle is no longer at the Dealer, The customer has it and I will be troubleshooting it soon using a lot of the advise from this thread.

I have written about this before, but here goes again.
Make sure that the windshield in question, was actually the one that YOU installed.
You do record Brand, date code and DOT # on the shield you actually installed??
Many a time have I seen, that a car repair facility (gas station, dealer, oil change guy, tire guy etc.), broke the windshield and had someone replace it, without the owners knowledge.
I have also observed water running down a wire through the fire wall, for a Sirius antenna, electric wire for a remote start and on and on.
Did someone replace the cabin air filter and screw up the cowl? Jiffy Lube loves to do that.
Most important though, is when a dealer gets a shot at writing in the amount on a blank check, watch out. If at all possible, like many have written on this thread, get the vehicle and check it out.
Ooops...

Very good point. All the more reason to always follow agrss/agsc standards and record this data on every single job. Once it becomes habit, you do it without thinking about it. I do all my record keeping while my primers are flashing off. Usually takes me approx. 6 minutes to record all data including vin, mil,etc. 99.999% of the time this form gets filed away never to be seen again. In a case like this one, you will be glad you have it.

Here's one for you.
I spoke to a customer last week and they did a replacement on a BMW a year and a half ago, right after Hurricane Sandy. The customer went back to the BMW Dealer a week or so ago, after what (?), 16 ice and snow events this year alone, with a burnt out and damaged windshield wiper motor/linkage assembly. They blamed the windshield guy and also claimed they damaged the molding and dented the roof.
"Ca-ching, Ca-ching", but alas, the windshield guy documented on the invoice that a tree had fallen on the vehicle in hurricane Sandy, dented the roof and damaged the molding. The "nice and honest" car owner "forgot" that she signed off on the damage, Case Closed. But, not for nothing, a dealer saying that the windshield replacement caused the windshield wiper motor to burn out and cause damage to the linkage assembly, is pure BS.
Many times the car owner is as dishonest, (or more dishonest) than the dealer.
Ooops...

just did a google search on this model van all kinds of water leaks''

Bet your glad you documented that one. It's unreal what lengths people will go to for a free meal. It's difficult not to be cynical but it's true. There will always be dishonest people out there that are looking to swindle someone. I'm an optimist and like to believe that most people out there are descent and honest. The ones that are don't mind taking a moment to do a pre inspection. They get it, and you can usually tell who you have to be careful with.
I had a customer recently that wasn't able to be present when I arrived to begin work. An older 97 4 runner that had previously been replaced FW2011, no evidence of inappropriate conditions before beginning, but took photos to document scenario anyhow. After peeling out molding, but before cutting out glass the rust was exposed. I immediately stopped to phone the customer and inform him of the status that I was not able to proceed that it needed to go to a body shop. I probably could have removed the corrosion sufficiently and proceeded with the install but I'm not a body shop. I have many reputable shops to refer this kind of work to. We don't provide this service but only in certain circumstances as we don't get paid to. Well most people would have accepted what I tried to explain, but this guy wasn't going to have it that way. He insisted that I replace his windshield right then or he was going to sue me because I pulled his molding out. He even went as far as to say he would sign a release. It was an insurance job, we immediately informed the agent of the conditions but not before he called them to complain. The insurance company understood our position and the vehicle was properly repaired at a later date at the owners expense, less the windshield covered by Ins. Those are the ones you have to beware of.
Most times it's a judgement call as to how detailed you need to be in a pre inspection. A car is a car, it's the customers that vary and sometimes we have to use a little psychology to read them and choose how to deal with them. A little time to look over a car and make notes goes a long way.

If their is a auto glass replacement technician out there that has ZERO installation issue's then he must be GOD. Because we are all human and we make mistakes. Just some more then others...........

I encountered the same problem on the same type of vehicle FW03240 GBY. Only the damage was in the lines of $12,000, dealer pricing of co****. I forget how long it was between the install and the origination of the problem but it was several months. When we got to examine the problem, here is what we found. With the w/s out of the van, just a little way up the pinchweld on both the drivers and passengers side there were horizontal grooves. It appeared as though it was were it may have been seamed together. When the new bead of urethane was applied, it never formed into these grooves so when water would travel down and against the urethane, it would hit this spot of the pinchweld and be diverted right down to the wire harnesses, junction boxes, computers etc. You name it, the dealer thought it needed to be replaced because it was compromised. Whether it was really our fault or not is questionable. In my opinion a bad design. Maybe it was installed on a cooler or downright cold day so the urethane was never able to form itself into the groove.

Hope this helps

It takes a real man to owe up to a mistake. You found the leak. Now you move on. More then what I can saw about other companies that admit nothing and just write a check.

DOES THE CAR HAVE A SUN ROOF OPEN THE SUNROOF. CALL ME PHIL 1516 771 0012 AND I'LL TELL YOU HOW TO FIX IT. I'M VERY GOOD AT LEAKS

We have seen this leak from the factory. This is all we do, is fix leaks. I look at this exact same situation last summer, I was called in by the windshield guy who put in an a/m w/shield two months earlier, car was towed in fuse block fried. It was 100% the windshield, I felt bad, glass guy said sorry paid the bill actually discounted to $4,500.00. He is still doing work for that dealer group. It was said earlier you have to be a man and own up to your mistakes...No one is perfect. In this case the top corner of the bead "folded" over just a bit and the water ran down the "A" pillar, built up in the bottom of the windshield and spilled in.

Any questions you guys can e mail me or call me. www.leakpro.com

Well, when you "slam" them in by yourself, especially those mini van sized windshields, what do you expect is going to happen?

Ever heard of the Lil Buddy or Rollerdeck or even a 1Tech? They are setting tools to assist a tech for such situations. Class over......

1-Tech works great. dodge mini's, Honda pilot, oddsy etc..no stuffing here. Cant buy it on the open market but i would get the lil buddy if on my own .

This is actually one of the easiest windshields for me to replace. Urethane cuts easy, cowl and wipers come off and on with ease. I do everything by the book and this job still only takes me no more than 40 to 45 minutes including prep and all paperwork. Although all modern vehicles bonded with urethane require a specific volume of urethane be applied to ensure the integrity of the engineering from the factory has been restored. These types of applications in particular require precision bead placement and decking to avoid unsightly squeeze in or rolling out between the molding and the body, thus causing a leak like this one. I do these all the time, never have a problem because my setting system allows me to easily precisely place the windshield in the exact location by calibrating the system to the original factory installation. I never worry if the bead rolled. You can't see through the frit, you want to be confident that bead didn't roll! $4500.00 goes a long way towards the purchase of professional equipment!

Dow urethane applied to the glass after proper prep, two skilled installers setting the glass with suction cups, problem solved (or avoided)

E-Bay is open market... You can buy almost anything and everything there !!!! Where price is no object for the rite bidder.....

I'm not sure where I read it, but I did read somewhere that Belron monitors eBay for sales of its proprietary equipment. If it can be established that the buyer was aware or should have been aware that the tool was "stolen" there could be a legal issue. At the time I read it I think I was scanning for a wire tool.

Phil,

I've seen almost everything Slavelite considers proprietary equipment on sale on E-Bay. From Razhead repairs kits to 1Techs and everything in between. It had a similar question in a razhead repair kit. The original E-bay seller stated that it was bought thru a storage unit auction. Purchases thru E-Bay has buyer protection. So they wont come after you. They will going after the seller. We personally don't buy Slavelite proprietary equipment. My opinion is that its not what its hyped up to be.

Had a similar problem two months ago with a minor leaker, different model, but still new enough for car to be worth more than the five grand to replace wiring harness.

Its two issues:
1) the pin connections are not shielded from any water leaks, whether the sunroof, w/s, cowl or any source.
Water will just run into the connections! How stupid is that?

2) either the pins or the pin to wire connection is so thin and weak, any amount of water can quickly corrode the whole assembly, and the dealer response is to rewire the entire car.

True story from a glass shop with twenty + year vets that are prohibited from stuffing and grind and prep any rust and rarely have leakers.

Watch out for the late model Toyotas!

Got a call from my insurance this week.... They cut them a check for 6,100 dollars!! I was a tad surprised they did not even get a 2nd opinion, I have a zero deductible but I am still beating myself up over this whole thing, I guess the last thing I wanted was an angry customer. They were very nice to me during this whole process, We both live in the same town of 700 people so I am at least happy they were taken care of. Time to put this behind me, Learn from my mistake and move on!!!

Were all human. Mistakes happen. At least its behind you now.
Semper fidelis my Brutha

How do you fit in here ??

Is that the question you asked yourself when you looked in the mirror before you posted on here ?????