I have searched. I have read a lot of articles on this. I'm not quite clear if the leak usually occurs between the window module itself and the cab or the plastic trim piece and the cab. I can see the seal between plastic trim and cab looks out of place. If I reseal the window itself will it fix the problem usually? Truck is a 97. Just noticed I put this in wrong section. Please move to 97-03 section. Sorry

 

I'll just answer here for you. I have a 97 with slider as well and it was leaking. I purchased a regular tube of clear silicone and using a caulk gun ran a heavy bead in the groove between the window and the cab. I ran up each side and all the way across the top leaving the bottom alone. I have not had a leak in over four years. Good luck.

 

i tried dynotech's way at first. the way the plastic trim piece is mounted makes getting a bead on top of the window difficult. i didn't get a good fix this way.

i ended up pulling the rear window and resealing it like it was from the factory. i was able to do this by myself and took my time. ended up being about an hours work with tedious cleanup of the old seal. a razorblade made this very easy though.

 

Thanks guys. I went to a u pull a part and got a solid window. I'm gonna install that. Just not sure about the seal between plastic trim and body. It looks to not be in good shape. I did grab the plastic trim off the doner truck also. It was a 99 reg cab. Hope it will work.

 

If you have a leak, I'll bet it's the butyl caulking around the frame of the window, otherwise it's a cracked frame and will leak where that's cracked. The butyl seems to be a common place, right above your head in a reg cab. Mine did last year, lots of searching got me to take the window out, sure enough the butyl seal was thin and junk. This is a very simple fix, especially with pics seen on this site. Hopefully you wanted a solid glass window and aren't just settling because the slider "may be" broken.

When you see the assembly apart, you'll see how the plastic is pretty much no where's close to being an issue. It looks like it would from the outside, needs the window out to be removed but has no bearing on the issue at hand.

 

HERE is a summary of what I learned about '97-'03 sliders.

Although the rear windows are interchangeble between all models, the plastic surrounds are slightly different (bolt placement, I believe). If you have an extended cab truck, the surround from the reg. cab may not fit.

The plastic surround has nothing to do w/ sealing the window. Trying to seal between the surround and the cab is kind of like building a shoddy second roof over your house because the original roof leaks.

 

Thanks for the help guys. When the weather breaks, i'm going to install the new window. That foam seal between the plastic and cab must just be for dirt and debris. I'll quit worring about it. Thanks again

 

yea, the plastic trim is just that, a trim piece. it has nothing to do with the sealing of the window.

if you have a leak, the window seal has failed. the easiest and cheapest thing you can do is pull the window and put a new seal down. i went with 3m windo-glue (or bond) something like that. it was put on with a caulking gun.

 

Ya, like they said! The reg cab and extended cabs ARE different pieces. Good luck.