Windshield Butyl Soft and Gooey

[Tom]

Anyone else notice the windshield sealant (butyl I assume) is soft and gooey on their 992 or other modern Porsche? I noticed it while washing the window -- it's all sticky and gets all messy if you rub it. Did mine get compromised somehow or is this normal? Any known solutions?

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[blueline]

Mine are all ok - 992, 718s, Cayenne. I've not had that issue on any current or previous Porsches. (Or any cars/trucks.)

Compromised seems to be a logical conclusion but if so, how and by what?

Have you had your w'shield replaced? Oozing sealant might do that.

[Tom]

Mine are all ok - 992, 718s, Cayenne. I've not had that issue on any current or previous Porsches. (Or any cars/trucks.)

Compromised seems to be a logical conclusion but if so, how and by what?

Have you had your w'shield replaced? Oozing sealant might do that.

Unless it was changed at the port before delivered to me, it's straight from the factory... Can't think of anything that might have compromised it. It's also uniformly that way across the top front, which makes me think it came that way.

[blueline]

Mine are all ok - 992, 718s, Cayenne. I've not had that issue on any current or previous Porsches. (Or any cars/trucks.)

Compromised seems to be a logical conclusion but if so, how and by what?

Have you had your w'shield replaced? Oozing sealant might do that.

Unless it was changed at the port before delivered to me, it's straight from the factory... Can't think of anything that might have compromised it. It's also uniformly that way across the top front, which makes me think it came that way.

It looks quite gooey and messy - something has gone wrong with the compound to have it break down like that. It's really odd.

I would imagine (hope) that the dealer will know what's going on - good chance it's something they've seen before. I'm definitely curious as to what you find out.

[Tom]

I texted my service manager about it with a picture and he wrote back right away saying it happens and they can take care of it. Sounds like they have to replace the whole windshield, which to my surprise Porsche will cover he said. Have I mentioned Porsche SF service dept is amazing -- answering texts at this hour -- come on!

[blueline]

Great service, indeed!

Very curious to know how common it is, what Porsche models are/were affected, what might be the cause (bad product from vendor, some kind of chem reaction, other?), and if it's something I should expect at some point. It appears that whatever it is, it's not anything done by owners and is not preventable. I'd guess a bad batch of vendor supplied seals.

[P_Coastal]

I texted my service manager about it with a picture and he wrote back right away saying it happens and they can take care of it. Sounds like they have to replace the whole windshield, which to my surprise Porsche will cover he said. Have I mentioned Porsche SF service dept is amazing -- answering texts at this hour -- come on!

Wow, that’s dedication

[Tom]

I am set to have the windshield replaced next week. They are ordering it now. The Service Advisor said it's a known thing, and that Porsche has updated the seal material since my car was made (MY21) and use the updated parts for the replacement. It's apparently common enough that they have a protocol for it, complete with new windshield. It wasn't clear if the new seal is part of the windshield or if they just don't want to fuss with trying to save the old one. For what it's worth, they said they've never had to change one after putting in the new seal.

[blueline]

Sketchy vendors with sub-par products - the curse of automakers worldwide.

Thanks for the info Tom.

[Tom]

Just an update: had the windshield replaced this week by the dealer. The old one had 8k miles on it and seemed new to me without any pits, etc., so I was surprised the new one seems clearer. Imagination maybe, but I don't think so. Porsche paid for the whole thing. I've since researched a bit and discovered it is an NHTSA recall, with Porsche's advisory describing my exact symptoms. The NHTSA literature also says the windshields can be optically impaired (not sure how?) so maybe this one really is clearer... I'm guessing it's something they only fix when symptoms appear, as I never got a recall notice and the dealer never took it upon themselves to fix it (like they did the airbag sensor that was also under recall). So, check your windshield seals! I need to check the rear now too...

As a bonus, they also krytox'd all those trim pieces that were giving me a buzz over certain roads. All seems as new now. I'll give it a week or two and then hit it with a hose to make sure it's water tight. I had a brand new rx7 back in the day that needed a new windshield when it was just a few months old. It seemed all good too, but I learned otherwise quickly in the first rain storm. Lesson learned.

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