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Thats right I went to close the drivers door pushing on the glass with light to moderate pressure and it blew out sending me off balance and shredding my arm. Anyone know why the glass would just blow out like that? It looks thick enough and being tempered it takes a hell of a blow to bust it out so why just pushing on it cause the glass to literally explode? Took 16 stitches to close up my arm and now I need a seat as the former is covered in blood.
Help?
988
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I noticed the arm that rides down in the side of the door frame was binding when I went to put the new glass in today. It was a small oval notch I assume came over the years of vibration and when the door was closed it caused the arm to flex up and bend putting a strong load on the bottom of the glass along with a twist tweaking the entire assembly towards the outside of the door. Well I put this theory to the test using a thick glove and Ace bandage over my arm at the junkyard. After cranking the window of the donor car up with a battery I closed the door with about the same force as I used on my car and sure enough the glass EXPLODED! Looked at the nylon insert and it also had the same oval shape to it and was holding the arm back until the shock of the door closing unloaded everything and made the arm jump to a new home at the end.
In short replace that nylon bushing and until then only run the windows up just enough to seal them and dont stand on the button. That motor makes a hell of a lot of torque!
Total cost of the glass and experiment was $10.00 and a lession learned!
I cut the stitches out next friday
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You have my sympathy, and I figure I owe you one...My driver window binds when rolling down unless I manualy help the front of it. I guess I better get it before it gets me. That is the only door I haven't had to rebuild yet.
I saw a funny scene awhile ago, my buddy had locked the keys in his mini truck, and realy wanted to drive home. He spent 20 minutes TRYING to break the passenger window with a rock about #14 shoe size, then a passerby showed him how to unlock the door with a drinking straw.
As for upholstery...Arent there crime scene cleanup specialists who know all about that? Well, It has been my experience that bleeding on the car rituals are very powerful, so I hope she's running extra well.
I also did a junkyard window experiment:
Airbag placed in the seat
Large alternator placed on airbag
10 feet of speaker wire out the door(closd)
drill battery to both wires and
BOOM
Alternator goes out the windshield(leaves a small hole), 30+ feet up, 3 rows forward and lands atop another car(exploding the back window and 2 foot dent in roof),there is a smoking hole where the passengers rear would have been, and the stuffing is blown out the seat bottom.
It was way more than I expected, hazardous to passerby, and I will NEVER leave anything on the dash of an airbag equipped car. In fact, I am now rather intimidated by airbags.
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This is why I replace the airbag connector to the steering wheel with a 10 ohm 5 watt resistor to make the computer "think" the airbag is connected. I have seen first hand how much power an airbag really has. Its even harder to see a dead child on the seat of recommended height and weight who was killed by the airbag... Wearing his seatbelt! In my mind airbags kill as many as they save.
988
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well sounds like you had a very bad day....hope the arm heals well!
cant comment abotu the glass, but the seat may be easily savable...my brother works in the auto trade and strangely enough getting blood out of upholstery is a common requirement. find a GOOD local body shop and ask they will know of a local valeter (detailer??? sorry in the uk) who has an industrial valeting machine (sort of wet and dry vacume on steroids im told) with teh righ chemicals this will do a job where you wont even know..
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If there was a chip in the surface, or at the edge, of the tempered glass, it can do that. I've blown one up before, but I was not injured.
Are you familiar with how cars are broken into using an automatic center punch?
--
john
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Actually the automatic center punch is classified as a burgerly tool and more than once Ive arrested on that alone. Unfortunatly many hand tools can be classified as tools used to commit a crime, I once arrested a kid who had a car antenna with a hook on the end. Found out later he was resonsible for a rash of car thefts and would hide the antenna down the side of his sweat pants he wore under his street clothes, the antenna fit down the refelctive strip and would hook at the top for fast access. Not bad for 14 years old!
988
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My regards to your injury, hope all goes well from here out. I just had a suggestion for cleaning your seat. I assume it is cloth...try some oxyclean...or hydrogen peroxide... both work well at getting blood out of fabric.
Thank you for your post...I hope it may help someone else from getting hurt down the road...
Best Regards,
Anastasia
1986 740Turbo 385,000 miles
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This is a "volvo quirk" that belongs at the top of the list. The only time something like this happened to me was when I hit a deer with my chev p/u at 55 mph and it swung around and shattered the driver's window into the side of my face (no stitches though). Badge, you are still seeing your share of action even though you retired from the force.
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1990 740GL Wagon 240k AW70L B230F 8 Valve Non-Turbo Rex/Regina Non-EGR R-12 A/C
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Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Hopefully both you and the car will be back to normal very shortly.
My neighbor across-the-street had the rear window knocked out of his minivan 3 nights ago, and over 10 years I've lost one side window and a tenant lost 1 side window in cars on the street. As you know, given your profession, kids do stupid things and a few low-lifes can cause a lot of damage, usually without any reason.
I'd suspect as Art mentions, that the window regulator was tweaked. You may even find it to be broken. The glass might have been working its way out of the metal track that holds its bottom edge. Any number of reasons contribute to stress in the glass. It's possible you tapped it just right with a ring or your watch as well- something had to have created a stress in the glass.
My guess is you may find an answer as you replace it- the regulator might be broken, or has been scraping the glass in the center, weakening it. All 740 door window regulators should be considered defective unless replaced- they are a real weak spot in an otherwise decent car.
And you may want to try the local drug store for cleaning supplies, there are some specifically designed to get out blood stains. Good luck.
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 230K, 88 744GLE- 220K, 82 245T-181K Also responsible for the care and feeding of: 88 745GLE, 231K, 87 244DL, 239K, 94 855GLT 189K
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That's a pretty frightening story. Who could possibly have predicted somthing like that happening?
Last week I replaced a rear door window on my daughter's car, shot out by, I figure, kids on a teacher's meeting day. They aimed, I think, to hit our 245 side window too, but that round went through the screen and both panes of our thermal glazing on the house. Made neat little 1/4" holes in the house window, but the tempered glass in the car just instantly turned into a million tiny cubes and tiny sharp slivers.
The only thing I can imagine is an alignment problem with the regulator and/or the door frame, causing a pressure bias on the glass when raised, right on the verge of breaking. This happens sometimes with fixed glass, when the weather changes, following an accident that appeared not to damage things, but actually placed stress on the glass mounting. I have no idea if you have any history to suspect something like that.
Also, in 240s with electric windows, I find the M6 hardware attaching the regulators to the door panels are frequently loose. I wonder if that causes them to drop out of alignment too.
You have my sympathy for your personal injury and the shock of the event.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore
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"Last week I replaced a rear door window on my daughter's car, shot out by, I figure, kids on a teacher's meeting day."
Okay, the rear window was the entrance wound. Where was the exit wound?
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john
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Good question, John. I'll have to don my peepers and scan the opposite door panel in the sedan, and back seat. The one in the house was easier to locate using what I dubbed my "CSI stick". Looking the other way is how I guessed they meant to hit the wagon.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore
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