AX993

The Brewmeister said "My opinion is based on only general knowledge of the behaviour of tempered
glass. Others on this board have more knowledge as to the particular stresses
these windows have on them. What caused it is really moot at this point.
The result is that it needs to be replaced. Hope it is an easy fix & keep us
posted."
Brewmiester, Thanks for your input .
And I agree to a point. If there is evidence that rerouting the third brakelight wire "might" prevent this from happening again, I want to be able to tell the repair guys about it. In one of the links that Scott kindly gave me, Bill Verburg posted "I just reread the TSB relevent to the third brake light. Factory recommendation is, definitely, run new wire."
I just pulled the 993 out to look at the rear window and i didn't see any evidence of a BB or Pellet or, thank God, a bullet strike, But I did shine a light thru the glass from the inside. Last night my wife and daughter said they could see radiating lines from the top center of the window, under the 3rd brake light . With the light shining thru it today , I could see it plainly. AND my 3rd brake light no longer works. I'm wondering if by rinsing the car off before driving to the gas station, some water found it's way to the wires to the 3rd brake light. I'm almost ashamed to say it, but since I got the car about 1 year ago, I haven't really driven it in any kind of heavy rain. Don't know if 3rd brake light wire shorting out caused the glass to break OR if the glass breaking cut the wires to the brake light. Chicken or the egg thing.
I tried to take some photos and if I can tell anything from them, I'll post them.
Glenn
__________

AX993

OK, here are the photos of the rear glass.


And I've added some images from Cal Turner BBQ for some grins. I believe Mike Moody posted some better photos of the event if your interested.
https://rennlist.com/forums/993-forum/353237-one-amazing-porsche-collection.html

The black 993 with the sun reflector inside the windshield is my car before the rear window let go.

Glenn

GabiOsz

Yep that looks excactly the same as mine did, unfortunately between that happening and the 10minute drive to the garage the were several speed humps in the road.... and it all fell into the car, DOH!

Top tip: if you need to drive it to get the glass changed, try to put some industrial tape across the shattered screen to keep it in one piece, i'm still finding bits of glass in my car.

Thaddeus

Sounds like some kind of thermal shock. maybe the glass took some impact in the past that caused microfractures, so it was just waiting for the last insult to let go.

chris walrod

Once you get the window out, I would look closely at the TBL connections looking for signs of corrosion or heat. then, with the new window, wire around the window bypassing the factory connection.

AX993

Thanks everyone,
Glenn

srf506

My Father-in-Law's Volvo did the same thing in NY last week just after all of that rain they had. I've heard of it occasionally happening here in the South on hot summer days with the cars's windows rolled up. My guess is due to the defroster grid, or stress induced in the glass during manufacture that finally causes the glass to fail. Bottom line no matter what, new rear glass. Good luck.

luv2ride

I fear that my 96 C2 is an explosion waiting to happen. To this day I've never used the defrost.

AX993

Well, Talked to my parts guy at local dealer and with my PCA discount (yep, they are trying to be a good place to go to), parts including glass, trim, new 3rd brake light posts, and special Porsche window glue, I'm up to somewhere over $900. All parts including glass are about 3 days away. Service manager is gonna call me with labor estimate. I spoke with the mechanic (who used to do auto glass) about wiring for the 3rd brake light, and he thinks he has a solution besides pulling a wire around the glass edge. He's worried about leaks from doing the wire around fix.
Glenn

creator8

Shouldn't your insurance cover it? I know on my policy I have a windshield/glass coverage with a minimal deductible.

I'm pretty sure it was a rock or something that caused the problem.

allill

Man, that's nuts! Good thing you didn't get hurt. Where were you?

AX993

Steve, I called my insurance agent and the secretary, who I got instead, reminded me that I had a $1000 deductible. So it goes. If I wanted, she said I could call a company called Auto Glass at a toll free number. If I'm gonna pay a grand out of my pocket, I rather have someone who knows a thing about Porsches. On the other hand, my wife said she would check out our insurance policy when she got home (I'm working nights right now). Glenn

AX993

Update time. And a Rant (Long, Sorry !). Well the rear glass that was in Atlanta (the parts guy checked the computer and it said Atlanta had 6 of them) came in last week. I scheduled my car in yesterday (5/29, Monday was a holiday). The tech removed my old broken glass and guess what ? The box that the new glass came in had the correct number but the WRONG glass. The tech saw that there were too many electrical connections and they were in the wrong places. The parts guy call to check the number with PCNA in Atlanta and it seems that PCNA is aware of a problem with the glass not matching the parts numbers on the box. PCNA said they sent a message out to the dealers, but somehow my dealer didn't get the message. You'd think PCNA would check who they sent the wrong ones to, and notify THEM. So.... Now it gets better. Porsche says they have 30 of the rear windows,, but they're all in GERMANY (C4SJOHN was right) . Porsche HAS stepped up and air-freighted the (hopefully) correct glass to my dealer, and it should be here on June 1. (READERS NOTE, RANT BEGINS, you can stop reading now if you want to.) Me?? I'm starting to wonder if air-cooled 911 varriant Porsche ownership is worth it. I still own and work on my 944S, and after some newbie screw-ups on my part in the 1st year of ownership (Almost all because of letting someone else work on my car), it has been a reliable car for the past 7 years, and I can, and do, buy almost all of the parts for it from aftermarket vendors (Thanks Rennlist sponsors !!). The 993 is in it's 1st year of my ownership, and I've done most of my own work/upgrades on it myself. I DO enjoy the 993 and its tons of power (compared to my wimpy 944S), and I love the 993's looks. I think what bugs me the most is PCNA's attitude with non-current Porsches. Apparently PCNA, and I guess Porsche Germany, only care about selling you a NEW Porsche. You say you bought the last year of the 996 ? By gawd you need to buy the Better Porsche, The Right Porsche, The NEW Porsche. It seems, at least to me, a good bit of the spare parts for non-current Porsches are not in this country. At one point I made the mistake of calling Porsche Motorsport (North America) to inquire about upgrade (RS) parts for my 993. The gentleman who took my call informed me that my 993 was obsolete, and they couldn't help me. (Funny,,, they still sell the RS parts in Germany). Maybe I just need to get over having to have factory parts to up-grade or repair my 993. RANT OVER.
I'll update again when the new glass gets here (hopefully the right part and not damaged in shipping)and when the dealer can get the time to install it.
Glenn,
(with 993 back safe at home, but with new high-volume flow-through ventilation !).

C4SJOHN

Glenn, you need to watch this and stay on top of this issue with Porsche. I was told that they had two or three in stock when it came time to ship one of them for me ...... O sorry they were damage but still show available to ship in inventory with no backorders. Then to Germany we go and no stock, then they had to order from the glass manufacture commit of 30 to 45 days plus shipping. I hope that you don"t go through the same stuff from PCNA that I had to put up with. Sorry to hear the same story that I had from Porsche. You will not regrert buying your 993. I get a big smile on my face everytime I go for a ride in my 993 C4S after many many years of ownership. Good luck...

AX993

John,
Yea, I'm keeping my eyes on this one. (That's why I drove my car home. Don't want it sitting around in their garage for weeks waiting for the right part to come in.) The dealer parts guy (good guy btw) has a tracking number from Fed-Ex. We'll see come Friday I guess. Thanks for the words about 993 ownership. I'll get over the frustration once I can drive it again. Still have some new up-grade items I'm wanting to install.
Glenn