Is it safe to temporarily seal my windshield leak?

[stephenkirsh]

The other night I drove home to my parent's house to get some work done on my car (diff fluid changed (my dad knows a BMW tech who makes "house calls") ). It was raining. Lots of rain came in at one point and I was able to pin point the leak. It's the windshield. It was dripping from the windshield down to the floor.

There's a gap/hole at the very tip top corner on the driver's side. When I got home, I had my dad spray the hose on it at low pressure and quite a bit came through.

So... I'm looking to do a short term fix for now.
1.) Can I use the same type of sealant that people use to seal off the door vapor barrier? (Some type of sealant from AutoZone for $7)
2.) If I do this, would it cause problems for when it's time to replace the windshield and/or correctly seal the existing windshield?

[danewilson77]

Just use a thin coat of non hardening silicone.

It's not a toy, it's a Droid > Sent from my S4 > Mason, OH

[Hermes]

^this is what I used on the e21 windshield before I had it replaced

[stephenkirsh]

Noob/dumb question: How do I know what's non hardening? Would it say on the packaging/Would an AutoZone dummy know what that means?

[danewilson77]

Yes. It says it.

Yes, they will know.

It's not a toy, it's a Droid > Sent from my S4 > Mason, OH

[stephenkirsh]

Thread revival.

So I still have a leak, and it's coming from a different location than the windshield.

I was thinking one of the ways I could narrow it down was to temporarily plug the sunroof drain on the front driver side.

Any issue with that? There's still 3 other drains, right?

[stephenkirsh]

Thread revival.

So I still have a leak, and it's coming from a different location than the windshield.

I was thinking one of the ways I could narrow it down was to temporarily plug the sunroof drain on the front driver side.

Any issue with that? There's still 3 other drains, right?

Bump, please help. We have rain still scheduled for next week and today/tomorrow are my only two days to attempt to test this.

[Avetiso]

I honestly don't know. Sorry.

[LivesNearCostco]

I went looking for my sunroof drain holes a few months ago and I only found two drain holes, at the front of the sunroof frame area. Not sure if there are only two drain holes or if i just couldn't see the rear drain holes because sunroof was in the way. I have a 2003 sedan.

I was thinking one of the ways I could narrow it down was to temporarily plug the sunroof drain on the front driver side.

Any issue with that? There's still 3 other drains, right?

[stephenkirsh]

Think it'd be safe to plug one?

-------
Also, I was looking at the front lower windshield cowl and there's a few perpendicular cracks on the driver's side. Could this be the source?
http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-330i-M54_3.0L/Search/SiteSearch/51718208483/ES2083242/

[stephenkirsh]

12642

Here's the edge of my cowl. The corner is peeling up. Is this a possible leak source?

[ELCID86]

it should be sealed under the cowling. I don't think the cowl actually prevents much water leaking.

[ELCID86]

The cowl can be removed and I think it should still not leak.

12643

12644

Thumbs, iPhone, Tapatalk.

[stephenkirsh]

Gotcha. Makes sense.

Back to the drawing board... :(

[ELCID86]

The carpet on my driver's side was wet a few months ago. I thought it might be the door seal, but since I've had the windshield replaced (twice) it has not leaked. Hope you can isolate it soon.

[stephenkirsh]

I'm thinking that might be it. If it was bad in one spot, it can be bad in another.