Oro

Here is how to do a simple r&r on a door weatherstripping. AKA "glass run." This is a 2002 MY ES300.

Our 2nd hand 2002 ES300 had the "glass run" (Toyota Speak) fail at 12 years/223,000 miles. 3 years in east Texas heat, 9 years in Seattle rain, untold number of barista stops. I've got or had Chevy's and problematic Audi's that went twice as long without this hassle, - but - fair enough. I will bite my tongue on this (or not).

1st off, part was $125 from Lexus even on the cheap internet discount. Only slightly less from a Toyota dealer. I found it $64 delivered from an Ebay vendor - correct Toyota part in the factory bag. I found it $34 dollars promised to be "OEM" cut from JC WHitney. I went with the OE ebay guy in the middle. Do your price hunting and sleuthing to your level of effort, cost, and comfort.

Here's what I found one morning a month after ownership, part split at the rear of the upper driver's side corner:




I found no info here on the Lexus forum. I asked on the Camry forum at toyotanation and a helpful mod there (hardtopte72) told me this was common on the same gen corolla, other Toyotas. Gave helpful installation advice. Great forum. Have used it for Toyotas before this Lexus kick.

Here's what you need to do the job:



Replacement "glass run," Then scraper or screw driver, bit of rag or towel, and Acetone to clean the channel. Dish soap as lube to feed the new run (WD40 optional).

For the driver's window, you need Toyota part 68151-33070


The acetone and screwdriver/rag are only needed to clean the adhesive element about 1" above the top of the rear-view mirror. You can see it on the removed run or by looking in the channel. Scrape gently away any material you can w/o damaging the channel, then remove the gooey remainder w/acetone or similar solvent. There are many others that will work. Let it flash away, of course before installing the run.

Start with the rear part of the run and lightly coat the three interior sides with dish soap. This is an old window-installers trick, it makes a great temporary lube and will not, over time as it dries, degrade metal or rubber. The back will feed easily. The front is longer and gets harder to feed.


At this point, more soap and creative pushing was not working. I squirted a tiny amount of WD-40 in the channel and it allowed me to install it correctly. WD-40 does not dissolve entirely like dish soap, but it dries to a hard varnish that will not attack rubber or metal. So Ok here. Not OK where you want a lubricant, so think about that before you want to use it elsewhere... (whole different post/discussion/lecture there!).





Now it should all be right except removing the sealing tape on the new locating section. Pull it, push it in. Run your hands and fingers carefully along all edges and seat them. The entire process can be done with the window fully down.