Windshield replacement on a '90 Q

[mattd1979]

I am in the process of trying to find a shop that will repair the pinch-weld that the windshield sits on so that when the replacement glass is installed, it will seal properly. The problem is that rust began to form on the surface of the pinch-weld in certain areas causing the seal to lift from it allowing water to leak into the car. Apparently at one point the pinch-weld wasn't properly prepped for the glass and so it began to rust. Now none of the big body shops seem to want to touch it. They say that the repair will cost more then the value of the car. I find this to be a bunch of bull ****. They say that they have to offer a lifetime warranty on all repairs and so they replace portions of metal with new sections rather then just repair the portions that are bad. The glass company will remove and re-install the glass but they don't do repairs to the body. So, I am having to find a reputable family owned body shop willing to do the repair. Well, enough of that....What I was wanting to know is that there are two different tints that come on the original glass from Infinit. I believe one is bronze but I don't remember what the other color was. The color of the car determined what color of tinted windshield to use. I remember reading about this somewhere but forgot where I saw it. Does anybody here know what the color of tinted windshield would be used with a white Q45 for 1990?
The lady at Glass Doctor says that it is a bronze tint for my car. She said she could tell by looking at it. It looks like a grayish or blueish color to me.

Thanks, Matt

[qship96]

simple to tell what color of glass you need for the windshield.......just look at the color of your door glass,as all glass was color matched at the factory. I am almost certain you will find it is bronze. Hold a piece of white paper behind door glass and look through the other side for confirmation if you are somewhat unsure of its true color.


You may need to search a shop that specializes in custom restorations, instead of a traditional "body shop" to get recommendations on how best to fix the rust issues......most "body shops" are only interested in very easy panel swaps and such,get them in and out as quickly as possible type jobs that insurance companies pay the minimum amount for.

[goody90q45]

....What I was wanting to know is that there are two different tints that come on the original glass from Infinit. I believe one is bronze but I don't remember what the other color was......

My 90Q which was champagne (gold) exterior with a burgundy interior I believe had a Titanium tint from the factory. I'll ask the new owner to look at the window sticker to verify and let you know.

[BCC93QT]

Insurance company should cover any glass repair but usually not housing IF glass insurance is on your plan.... My insurance company up here in MA refused to pay for OEM glass so it took me 3 weeks to finally get them to repair my windshield with OEM glass. First time I have ever used my glass insurance in the 8 years I have had vehicles on the road... I settled with them and payed 10% cost which comes out to be around 60$. OEM windshield runs 5-600$ from the dealer.... I think there were only two colors. Bronze and blue

[mattd1979]

Alright, thanks for the help guys, this has been a pain. I didn't think it was going turn out to be this difficult. As for glass insurance, I only have pip and liability, no comprehensive.

Matt

[Trnqld]

My 90 is gray with blue interior and blue tinted windows,Safelite just replaced the windshield and drivers rear glass. Door glass had to be ordered took about a month and 2x the dollars !!! My 92a is green with tan interior and bronze tint.

[mattd1979]

Well, I finally got my car back from the body shop after having the windshield pinchweld repaired and new glass installed. Problem now is that I had to end up having the car towed to the house. It appears that the car was left out in the open during one of the rainstorms we had with no windshield. I didn't notice anything in the car really until I opened the glove box and found most of every thing was wet. Saturated at the bottom. I also noticed that the car wasn't running quite right. They pulled it around from the back and as I reinstalled the rear view mirror, I noticed that the car was idling pretty high and was missing on one cylinder. I figured that it was just due to it setting for a month not being run and the injector was stuck. I also noticed that it seemed to have a lot of vapor coming out of the exhaust as if it was 20 degrees outside. I can't smell anything right now due to surgery of my sinuses but I believe that was unburnt fuel. As soon as I pulled away I noticed the car started to miss even worse and then start to buck once it got past 2000rpm. The check engine light was on but I didn't notice it right off. I pulled off the road about two blocks down and by this time it was really smoking. I shut if off, disconnected the battery and turned on the headlights to drain off any residual power, reconnected, now it takes even longer to get the car started. What was happening was the engine was getting flooded. While the engine was running, I disconnected the MAF which would usually cause the car to stall regardless if it was good or bad. The engine didn't even stumble. I ended up pulling the ECU out to where I could get to it and put it in diagnostic mode to find that there was no response, the LED light stayed on solid red. Just like my other ECU did a few months back when it went bad. The problem I am facing now is the fact that I drove to car off of their lot. I'm afraid that I may have ruined my chances of them fixing this. I payed $346 for the pinchweld repair and $80 for the tow.

Anybody have any suggestions for me on this? I'm all ears. The name of the company is "Bayview Collision Center". They had high ratings from other customers that had their cars repaired by them. I'm going to try to call them tomorrow on my lunch break. I'm having to continue to use my grandmother's car until this gets taken care of. I won't be off again until next Tuesday. Which is causing her to have to bumb a ride from others if she needs something from the store during the day. This has been a real PITA. This is the first time I have had someone else work on my car. This is the exact reason I do things myself. First time someone else does something and now look. Even the molding wasn't put on correctly which took me almost a month to get in from Japan. The "Glass Doctor" did that part. I guess I have one positive thing to mention. The glass looked good.

Matt

[Q451990]

Wow... I'm going to guess that your ECU got wet. If it's flooding that badly, stop trying to run the car - you run a huge risk of hydrolocking the engine. It's time to find a good attorney if your first call doesn't get you some results. I think I would have had it towed back to the shop instead of home - but that's water under the bridge at this point.

Heath

[mattd1979]

Yeah, the problem was that they were already closed and I didn't want to leave it sitting outside their gates. I talked with Earnie who is the manager their that says he feels that he doesn't believe that he should have to pay anything because for one, they didn't use their on glass guy and instead relied on the one that I sent over and also that the car sat there for a month. He said that they would have the car in and out in two or three days. I said that he was going to have to wait just as long because the part was being made in Japan before they could send it over. He says that they did all they could but apparently it wasn't enough. I ended up taking the side cover off of the ECU to find condensation inside it. He said that he is willing to split the cost with me and I said that I don't feel like I should have to pay any of it since the car was running fine when I brought it in and the glove box wasn't saturated in water nor the floor boards under the rubber mats. He says that they put visquine over the windshield area and he said a tree branch or something could have possibly fallen and put a hole in it allowing water but he still doesn't feel he should have to pay. He kept giving me the run around stating that if only they used their glass guy. I had to keep repeating what I said about the seal. I bet that if I did let his glass guy do the install, he would be blaming me for having to wait on the seal rather then just let them use a generic seal.

Anyway, he said that he doesn't want this to be a long drawn out process and having to get involved with attorneys. I said that I don't want to either. He said for me to get an ecu and if that is the case, then he will cover the cost. I don't know if he will try and stick me later and say he doesn't owe me anything.

I smelled gas in the oil, so I need to go ahead and change it. I guess I will have to change it twice within 500 miles or so. I use Mobil1 ---0W40.

Matt
Matt

[goody90q45]

Is it your NICO ECU that got waterlogged? No spare? If you're looking for an ECU to get your Q back on the road I have one from a 91Q with federal emissions. I'll give you a screaming deal and a reciept for $1000 for when the shop owner agrees to pay 1/2 the cost. Send me a PM if you're interested in the ECU.

[mattd1979]

No, that was the backup ECU that went bad. My NICO ECU is still in the care of qsiguy. I don't have what it will cost to get it out after repair for now. Not sure when I will be able to. Being that I was forced to either resign or get fired. So I'm currently without an income as of today. I was going to go bone yard hunting tomorrow to see what it will cost to pull an ECU from one of the parts cars here. According to one of the local websites, they say that their ECUs go from $30 up. I want to go ahead and change the oil in the car due to the fuel that has mixed in from flooding, pull the plugs to spin it over encase any fuel is still standing in the cylinders, and just put another ECU in but at the same time, if I do this, then I end up wiping all evidence from what has happened to the car. Of course the main evidence is water which by the time it's all said and done will have evaporated so that won't be there either. It's not like the car got hit by something that has visible damage.

I just don't know. PM me if you want on the asking price of that ECU.

[mattd1979]

Today, I went ahead and pulled the plugs to find 3 on the driver side wet. All plugs on the passenger side were dry. I also noticed that it looks as if the engine has been running very rich. They have some thick soot on them. I believe the plugs were changed about 30k ago. They are the correct plugs from NGK. They are a 6 heat range. I spun the engine over to push out any standing fuel. I'm going to go ahead and change the oil next. I figured I'd leave the oil filter on for this round.

[mattd1979]

Yesterday I swapped in another ECU that I got from goody90q45 and got it running correctly. Changed the oil prior to starting with some Walmart 10w40. I found that I had a dead injector and changed it out today. Fortunately it was cylinder 2, so I didn't have to pull the upper plenum. Purrrs like a kitten. Glass doctor came over to look at the seal to the windshield to see what will be involved in correcting the problem. The previous guy attached the molding fastener to the upper portion of the pillars so that the seal would be flush with the surface of them but this created a gap that increased as you travel down to the base of the glass. So he took some black silicone and filled in the gap. They said that they will go ahead and order another molding clip and possibly another seal and re-install properly at no charge. There doesn't appear to be any leaks after having the glass installed last week. It's just more cosmetic than anything. The molding around the glass is just a gap filler from what I can tell since the glass is glued down. It also helps keep debris from collecting down between the gap of the glass and window frame.

[Q451990]

Sounds like you have it under control. Hopefully the body shop guy will reimburse you for the ECU and all will be well.

Heath

[goody90q45]

I sold the ECU to Mat for $1000 which is still cheaper than new from the stealership. He'll be looking to get reimbursed for at least 1/2 that amount. (j/k)

[BCC93QT]

I haz some ECU for sale! Me ph1rst