Prettysure I have a leaking windshield cowl.. Advice?

[ENDEE666]

So a few months back I had a new windshield installed by Safelite. Its not an OEM Audi windshield. Day I picked it up, I later noticed that the cowl was loose. I went back, and they didn't install the lower clips, by the firewall. So they ordered me new dealer ones, I picked them up a few days later. It was now no longer loose & moving, but never sat flat against the windshield still, like it did before. Fast forward a few months (I think I had it done in like Sept-Oct) to last week, and after washing my car, I then vac the interior and discover water on passenger floor. Wasn't too much, but it was definitely wet. I checked weather strips by the door, but thats it. I moved on. Today & yesterday we had rain here, so I checked under the floor mat, and its wet again. More than before. No odor, which I was relieved, so its not the heater core. I searched and saw the drain holes and the cowl issues.

I looked further, and there is no seal at all between the cowl and the windshield. And my cabin filter was wet. So the water must be running right under the cowl and thru the hvac system. How can I explain this to Safelite and have them pick up the repairs?? The cowl itself does not want to click into anything on the windshield..

[onyrmom]

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but you shouldn't need to explain anything. Just say it's leaking, and you want it fixed. It's too late for this now, but Safelite is only good for common low-cost cars like old Toyota trucks, domestic cars, and Hyundais.

The reason for this is that the cheaper vehicles are likely having their OEM glass manufactured at the same Mexican plants that are making the replacement glass for Safelite. More expensive cars generally only have good results with glass from manufacturer-approved supply outlets (dealers, basically), which is sourced from the higher-quality OEM manufacturer. Plus, the gasket material, mounting hardware, etc, will be of better quality.

I learned this the hard way on both my old Toyota 4Runner and my allroad...the Toyota glass leaked when I used a no-name windshield, and has been fine since I replaced it with Safelite glass. But I would never put Safelite glass on my Audi, and in fact recently paid $350 or so to have my allroad windshield replaced with OEM glass after inadvertently cracking the original.

After looking at both replacements, there is a clear difference in quality. Pun intended.

[EinSchnellAudi]

I had brought my 4.2 to safelight when i went through 4 windshields in a week. I get free glass from insurance, as most do, and they only auth safelight so i thought nothing of it since the insurance company has been great and never caused issues.

Glass 1: Driving down road and gravel truck hit abump and sent some rocks everywhere. Boom headshot to the (Original)glass.

Glass 2: Safelight replaces glass(1) and cracks new glass immediately upon install as well as cracking the cowl cover in half. Wahoo.
Safelight replaces cowl cover free of charge (no shipping as the local audi dealership is on the same road) and goes about their day.

Glass 3: Replaces glass(2) and incorrectly seats glass and causes a small stress fracture not even a few days later. Go back, have a discussion with the manager since not only was i mad but the insurance is mad now as well.

Glass 4: Got OE glass this time around (My insurance co alows free OE glass, but since OE is sometimes hard to come up with on short notice they just allow safelight glass). They put in the correct OE glass, replaced the cowl cover and I havent had any issues since then.

The safelight I was at should cover the work to fix it. I didnt have that many problems with the one i was at. I much rather would of had OE glass the first time, since I get uneasy when im barreling downt the road at 80 with some glass made somewhere I do not know, rather than OE glass that I know will do its job.

GL OP

[btsline04]

Safelite screwed me a couple of months ago with the same problem. It took them 4 windshields to finally get everything buttoned up. I took the car to the dealership and had Safelite replace the windshield AT the dealership with a tech watching the process to make sure everything was done right. Then I had the service manager double check it so he can sign off on it. I also made Safelite replace the carpet w/ padding in the whole car cause I didnt want to half ass it and just have it carpet pulled and steam cleaned. Oh and for the record, I dealt with Safelite Corporate offices NOT the actual store that did the work. GL with everything.

[ENDEE666]

Safelite screwed me a couple of months ago with the same problem. It took them 4 windshields to finally get everything buttoned up. I took the car to the dealership and had Safelite replace the windshield AT the dealership with a tech watching the process to make sure everything was done right. Then I had the service manager double check it so he can sign off on it. I also made Safelite replace the carpet w/ padding in the whole car cause I didnt want to half ass it and just have it carpet pulled and steam cleaned. Oh and for the record, I dealt with Safelite Corporate offices NOT the actual store that did the work. GL with everything.

They (safelite) did all this at no cost to you, just to make good?

[btsline04]

As hard as it is to believe, they took care of everything! I was dealing with one guy non-stop from Safelite so I didn't have to explain myself to different people. The dealer had my car for 2 weeks just to make sure nothing was wrong with the electrical's and computers and stuff. When it was time for me to pick up the car all I did was call the Safelite guy up and he gave me a corporate CC account and just faxed them the bill from the dealership.

When you call corporate up just tell them that you drive a luxury car and that you take care of your car and you keep it prestine. Also, tell them that you don't want to worry about the smell or mold and mildew growing if they don't take care of it the right way. I'm not gonna lie, I played like a b*tch but I don't care. I got new carpet and floor mats out of it!

[ENDEE666]

Got the dude's number? lol Sounds good man, I appreciate that. Gonna hound them a bit and see where I get..

[btsline04]

Unfortunately I dont. The number is (800)638-8958 tho. I only found my receipt from Safelite when I got the windshield replaced. I cant remember where I put my dealership invoices. If I come across them I'll def report back to you with his name.

[M threezy]

I had the same problem with it not clicking in and wetting my cabin filter in turn wetting the passenger side floor. Bring it back to them, it clicks in a certain way. Or have them buy you a new piece.

[atikovi]

I had the same problem with it not clicking in and wetting my cabin filter in turn wetting the passenger side floor. Bring it back to them, it clicks in a certain way. Or have them buy you a new piece.

What certain way does it click in? I just replaced my windshield and finishing up but can't seem to get the cowl piece locked into the lower windshield channel.

[ChicagosPhantom]

What certain way does it click in? I just replaced my windshield and finishing up but can't seem to get the cowl piece locked into the lower windshield channel.

So a few months back I had a new windshield installed by Safelite. Its not an OEM Audi windshield. Day I picked it up, I later noticed that the cowl was loose. I went back, and they didn't install the lower clips, by the firewall. So they ordered me new dealer ones, I picked them up a few days later. It was now no longer loose & moving, but never sat flat against the windshield still, like it did before. Fast forward a few months (I think I had it done in like Sept-Oct) to last week, and after washing my car, I then vac the interior and discover water on passenger floor. Wasn't too much, but it was definitely wet. I checked weather strips by the door, but thats it. I moved on. Today & yesterday we had rain here, so I checked under the floor mat, and its wet again. More than before. No odor, which I was relieved, so its not the heater core. I searched and saw the drain holes and the cowl issues.

I looked further, and there is no seal at all between the cowl and the windshield. And my cabin filter was wet. So the water must be running right under the cowl and thru the hvac system. How can I explain this to Safelite and have them pick up the repairs?? The cowl itself does not want to click into anything on the windshield..

OK...here's te solution for anyone having problem with their cowl not clicking in windshield channel.
Had a same prob on my A6 and it's an easy fix.Since I got it the cowl always popped up and wouldn't stay in place.Especially passenger side.
It's not the cowl that isn't clicking in the place,it's the windshield channel that got to wide to hold it tight.So don't bother replacing cowl with new one because it won't solve your prob.Replace only if it's cracked.
You have to take the cowl off,clean the channel with air gun if you have one if not you can use flat head screwdriver and dig that piled dust/debris.After you're done with cleaning you just go down the line from one side to another and press channel as much as you can (no tools needed,just use your thumb) to get the gap in it as tight as possible.After you done with that put your cowl back and you'll see it's gonna click into place and it's gonna stay there.Mine did and it's still holding good.
Now one more thing...make sure to clean edge of the windshield at the ends where it meets cowl,I had silicon overflow because my windshield was replaced at some point,and it wouldn't let cowl sit close to it.
Good luck.

[ChicagosPhantom]

Also while you there you want to check your cowling and drain in it (area under battery)...it can get nasty and cause big problems.You have to get your battery out and battery tray to clean it properly.

Mine looked like this.
This is what I got out off it.

It was pretty clogged.

[Mr. Rictus]

Bringing this back from the dead!

I've discovered that my lower windshield moulding isn't attached to the windshield properly and is the reason why my passenger side carpet is soaked every time it rains as well as my vehicle speed sensor not working. The VSS not working is because the body harness for that sensor runs through the passenger side kick panel and the connection for the VSS gets wet. It took me a long while to figure this out.

Now, how does one install the lower windshield moulding, part #4B0853306B01C?

It looks like it just presses onto the bottom part of the windshield and then the windshield cowl presses into it. Can anyone give me more insight?

[ENDEE666]

All that water can ruin the car. Address this immediately. Yes, it slips into a groove. You should use a good adhesive in the groove itself. Otherwise water will still get by. I also put a (one piece) strip of narrow high quality double stick tape across the entire top, sealing it to the windshield. Clean all surfaces well first, including the glass with some alcohol. No dirt or oil, or it won't stick.

As added protection, I also made a cover for over the cabin filter. Nothing fancy for now, just bent some thin sheet aluminum to cover it, and spaced it from the filter so air still gets under it. It's not visible unless the battery cover is off, but it makes certain no water gets in via the filter area.

[ENDEE666]

Also, as mentioned in the post above yours, take an air compressor and blow out all the cowl drains and sunroof drains. They all clog very easily, and blow clean just as easily.

[Mr. Rictus]

Thanks for the info! I've got the part on the way and will try to tackle this over the weekend. I've blown out the cowl and sunroof drains already while searching for the leak.

So there's a groove on the bottom of the windshield that the moulding slots into? There are two parts involved here, the moulding and the windshield cowl. I just want to make sure we're on the same page.

[ENDEE666]

Yes there is a groove below the windshield. You can't miss it once things are removed. Clean out the groove as described a few posts up.

[Mr. Rictus]

The part I'm talking about has that groove on it, and it seals to the base of the windshield. That's the moulding. The "water deflector"/cowl slots into the moulding.

My moulding is bad, my cowl is fine. :-)

Moulding: https://www.ecstuning.com/ES367400/

Cowl: https://www.ecstuning.com/ES373493/

[scottyvee]

I too had water coming into the cabin but only on the driver's side. I had to recently replace my battery so I vacuumed out all debris and made sure the drains were clear. I also removed the ECU box and found a lot of debris behind it so i cleaned that out and also put a bead of silicone around the seal that's on the bottom of the ECU box. I also had my windshield replaced and asked the tech if he saw any indication of a bad seal between the windshield and the car and he said no. The car has been rained on since all of this work was completed and I have not had any more leaks. My guess is that the seal under the ECU was the culprit as I had cleaned out every other drain a long time ago and still had the leaking. Going that extra step by removing the ECU, cleaning out behind there and re-sealing that gasket (which is just a foam oval piece) made the difference.

[bpark1210]

Funny I ran across this, It rained like mad yesterday here in Seattle and when I got in my car after work I had a puddle of water about a 1/2" high in my passenger footwell. Luckily I have the rubber allweather mats and was able to just lift most of the water out. Used some golf towels I had in the trunk and sopped up most of the left over water in the carpets. I've cleaned my firewall drain last fall so I know I don't have the issue of water overlfowing in through the air filter. Guess I will have to remove my cowl and check for proper seating. Anyone have success in using outdoor home window grade silicone? Bath silicone? to get a proper seal?

[02 A6 2.7T]

Funny I ran across this, It rained like mad yesterday here in Seattle and when I got in my car after work I had a puddle of water about a 1/2" high in my passenger footwell. Luckily I have the rubber allweather mats and was able to just lift most of the water out. Used some golf towels I had in the trunk and sopped up most of the left over water in the carpets. I've cleaned my firewall drain last fall so I know I don't have the issue of water overlfowing in through the air filter. Guess I will have to remove my cowl and check for proper seating. Anyone have success in using outdoor home window grade silicone? Bath silicone? to get a proper seal?

Check the seal of the plastic cowl panel to the bottom of the windshield as noted in the OP's post (#1). If thre's no gap, it could be the seal at the base of the cabin air filter plenum. Pop the filter out and check for moisture in the foam seal between the interior plastic heater core housing under the filter and the metal cowl panel.
**** In any case, you will want to pull the sill trim and lift up the carpet in the front passenger foot well, pull out the plastic TCU box and remove the cover. If water got in the box, you'll need to remove the TCU and dry it out thoroughly. ****

[bpark1210]

Dale,


Thanks for the advice. Crazy amounts of rain the last few days huh? I still need to check out your 6sp swap. Hopefully one day I'll get motivated to do it and won't have to stress w/ issue like TCU being water logged.

[Mr. Rictus]

I brought my car to Safelite to have them take a look. Safelite recommended taking he windshield out to replace the lower windshield mounding since my windshield had too much sealant on the bottom section causing the mounding not to sit correctly, which lead to its unseating from the bottom of the windshield itself.