I have a 3 year old discovery 5 bought from new with less than 20,000 miles. At the end of October the roof started leaking and I was advised that I would have to book it in for a ‘diagnostic’. The earliest appointment was 3 weeks later. On arriving at the dealership I was immediately told (without anyone looking at the car) that the problem was a leaking windshield and this had been a problem with other cars also. (On phoning round the other dealerships I was also advised this was a recognised problem to do with the sealant used). The dealership organised to wrap the windscreen which I was told would make the car driveable whilst they ordered in a replacement windshield. This essentially involved applying a piece of tape on the top edge which lasted 5 minutes and meant I was stranded at work with no shelter to protect the car from water ingress. I have been repeatedly told that the windshield is on back order and have now been waiting for nearly 2 months. The car has been parked in the garage and is not driveable. I have spent more than £1500 on car hire as I have 3 young children that I need to get to school and both myself and my husband are NHS doctors. As the car is just out of warranty we have not been offered any help with mobility. It seems incredible that this can happen to a 3 year old car bought from new and I am in such difficulty as Landrover don’t seem to be able to get the replacement windscreen that is required - they keep pushing the expected date back saying the windscreen is on ‘back order’. If anyone else has been in a similar situation please do post here, any advice on how to get this situation resolved or next steps would be most welcome. I have been in touch with Landrover customer services since October but they have not been able to resolve the situation, offer Anny assurance that they will cover the cost of the works or help with my mobility issues in any way.

 

Was it in warranty when you scheduled service?

They taped it and it came off... while I get that you don't want to deal with it, had you thought about taping it yourself with something else... I would expect that to be easier than dealing with a rental vehicle even if you had to redo it once a week.

I've always gotten loaners from dealerships on vehicles that have needed service... both in warranty and out of... not all dealers do this but it is one reason I buy lexus, lincoln, rover... rather than honda, toyota, ford... for dealership service. No idea how your luck is with that... if mine started leaking out of the front window, I would call my jlr service/sales guy and tell him I was taping it up until they were ready for me... i wouldn't park it and ring up a huge rental vehicle bill and with a water leak I wouldn't be asking for a loaner either.
The leaking window is a well known issue at this point and it doesn't surprise me that the parts are allocated and on back order... wish you the best with this.

 

Mine leaked just a few drops and the dealer (here in the US) replaced the windshield. It only took a week or so to get it ordered and installed. I can't recall exactly when this was but it was probably late 2019. I think it would be no problem to tape the windshield. Stop by an automotive glass company and ask them for some tape. Beware which tape you use. If you leave some types of tape on too long your paint could be damaged. I'd use a painter's tape and if it took months to get it replaced I'd remove the tape every week or two and reapply fresh tape. It would only take 10 minutes. You shouldn't have to do this but it might be the best way to address the problem.

 

Thanksfor the advice. I spoke to auto glass and they advised against taping for more than a few days as it could take the paint off. I think it is quite a large leak as within a couple of hours water was all the way down into the footway. Reading other reports the water can get into the dashboard/electrics so we didn’t want the situation to get worse..... hence parked in the garage and hire car. We didn’t expect it to take 2 months to sort out and it may be even longer as we have no idea when the windshield will arrive. Yes we did get it serviced whilst in warranty.

 

They don't want you to put duct tape or gorilla tape on their and then blame them when it's difficult to remove.. so the just say "no tape". Painters tape or a vinyl wrap set up would be fine.

 

Mine is leaking too. Wasn’t terrible to begin with so I waited till my recent service to get it repaired under warranty. They told me it was going to be mid to late Dec and offered me a loaner. I told them it wasn’t all that bad and to call me when it arrived. Now we’ve had a cool snap in Fl and the thing is leaking a lot worse. Going to call and see if they will still give me a loaner. Look like this could take a while and i dont want to ruin my headliner.

 

I used heavy duct tape on mine. It kept the water out fine. When they replaced the windscreen they told me the tape had left sticky residue on the paint and they had it detailed to clean it off.

 

Have the same problem, and am waiting for about a month now to get the replacement in.

 

I've literally just had mine replaced this morning by Auto Windscreens. The initial problem started exactly a week ago when I was braking and saw a trickle of water come down the inside of the windscreen straight in front of me. I bought a 2018 Disco as approved used less that 12 months ago, and the car was also still in the original 3 year warranty, so I called the dealer who told me there was a long backlog on new screens but they'd send out Land Rover assistance to have a look and make sure it was patched to stop any more ingress until the glass came in stock. I wasn't particularly pleased as had already seen the posts with long lead times for windscreens as well as reading this blog: Leaking Windscreen Issue: Land Rover Discovery 5. | Glasstec Paul

The guy from LR assistance came out that evening and told me that he's been called out to loads of these issues over the last few months since winter kicked in. Having already dealt with it a number of times he said the easiest way to get it sorted was for him to call out Auto Windscreens to sort it on LR's fleet account. He said park the car 'nose up' on the driveway to stop any water streaming off the roof and keep the paper towel I had wedged under the roof liner in place. I did exactly that and didn't drive the car over the weekend. Got a call on Monday morning from Auto Windscreens to say they had ordered a screen which would be with them on Thursday and they'd be out to me Friday - initially to try and refit the original screen but they'd replace it if they had any issues or broke it.

Long story short - they turned up this morning and was chatting to the AW technician who said they have been doing these every week and he was fully up to speed about the issue with the contaminated primer used on the screens from the production line which was causing the bond to fail. He said he knew how to re-clean and prep the original screen to refit it but I mentioned I already had a small chip in it and would prefer him to just install a new screen. As it was on LR's fleet account, it made no difference to him, so he agreed and got started installing the new screen. He was clearly experienced as was done in just over an hour and has done a really clean job. He also fully re-calibrated the traffic/lane assist cameras.

Having read of so many issues in getting this sorted I'm feeling pretty fortunate it only took a week, but shows this issue is widespread. Why there isn't an official recall notice I don't know. It must be costing LR hundreds of thousands of ££ every month to address it whilst not officially acknowledging it. Fingers crossed that it holds up and I don't have any more reoccurrences. Good luck in getting yours sorted.

 

Amazingly windshield arrived on Monday and car in the garage (under cover!) due to have it replaced tomorrow! Fingers crossed no more issues. Completely agree that there should have been a recall - seems to be a well recognised issue amongst people in the car industry. There is even a technical information sheet issued by Landrover online involving using soapy water to check for leaks before selling on these vehicles.... Looking forward to having the discovery back on the road!