Nissan Dualis windscreen rain sensor remove and refit
The Nissan Dualis is a small SUV type vehicle that is quite popular in Australia. Like most modern vehicles these days, accessories that were once reserved for the prestige market are now becoming standard on the average family car.
The front windscreen replacement on the Nissan Dualis is straight forward task, however there are few points to take note.
The windscreen mould on the Dualis should be changed each time as the old mould will be damaged when removed, this is due to the adhesive bonded on the underside of the mould. At the time of this post generic equivalents are currently not available in Australia so a genuine mould would be required.
The genuine windscreen for the Dualis is very expensive so it is likely customer will choose the generic version. This is fine as the generic version windscreen is good quality and has the round aluminium rain sensor bracket already attached to the windscreen.
As with most round style rain sensors a new gel pad is required to refit the sensor to the glass. Nissan does not sell these as they would prefer you purchase a whole new rain sensor. However Service 8 Auto Glass technicians have successfully refitted many of these sensors on Nissan, Audi, and BMW's without any problems. This will save your client hundreds of which they will surely appreciate.
Since the release of the new Sensor Tack rain sensor gel refitting these sensors is a very simple process. Follow these simple steps below.
First remove the mirror from the windscreen. This is done by sliding the whole unit downwards. See image 1 for inside view of mirror set up.
Next remove the rain sensor computer from the windscreen by disconnecting the wire at the top and unclipping the side clips from the bracket. See image 2.
This is quite safe and easy to do as a re-initialisation is not required for rain sensors on the Nissan Dualis. The rain sensor should now pull off the glass. Be extremely careful as rain sensors can be quite sensitive, do not touch the lenses with you fingers.
IMPORTANT! Rain sensors can also be sensitive to ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) for more information about ESD. You can purchase an ESD strap for just a few dollars from electrical stores or computer shops, a must and cheap tool for any windscreen technician.
The rain sensor in this example also has a light sensor built into the same unit, however this is no problem using the Sensor Tack Gel. See image 3.
Find a stable level surface to place your rain sensor, insure it is placed away from dust and wind, that last thing you want is a leaf or a dog hair landing in your sensor gel before it sets.
Sensor Tack sells special leveling boxes that are heated, this accelerates the curing process and may be required if you live in a cold climate. Since we are on the Gold Coast Australia we are blesses with warm temperatures all year round so we have no need for the box. Hence the example being in the open air.
The gel comes in a double syringe similar to Araldite. The consistency when injected is a little thicker than washing up liquid, however when cured it thickens to a jelly like consistency.
Just inject the gel evenly all around the sensor until full to the lip. Once its full it is very, very important to add more gel to raise the level to above the lip, if you do not do this the gel will not make contact with the glass and will fail to operate the wipers. Aim for about 1/2mm above the lip. This is why it is important for the sensor to be on stable level surface.
On this particular rain sensor it has a light sensor too, this is the clear oval shape in the middle of the sensor. Do not put sensor gel in this section, it must stay dry.
Once the gel has cured after about 10 minutes reattach in reverse order and test.
This method will work on many round style sensors such as those on VW, Audi and BMW.
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