as if things aren't hard enough right now

[CAP1]

i got a customers 97 malibu hanging on the lift, waiting on the tie rod to get here. i'm up here typing an invoice up, and hear a very loud "THUMP". it scared the crap outta me it was so loud. i go out to see what happened, can't find anything....look up at the top of the car, and can see the rear window shattered. nothing fell on it, nothing could've hit it......it just popped.

 great way to end a week that's been nothing short of spectacularly uncooperative.

[Masherbrum]

[SFRT - Frenchy]

 

I dont buy it. Before u those ghosthunter clowns, there got to be a reason. Talking about lound bangs ... I woke up the neighborhood when I got a little caried away with the ether starting up my diesel while leaving the glow plugs on. Dear mother of a fireball, wife came runing outside, looked at me and just said 'oh ... It's you'. Like she's used to me blowing up stuff or something.

[Jayhawk]

Is it cold outside?

[CAP1]

Is it cold outside?

30's outside, and only around 55 inside.

[Jayhawk]

Weird.  Rapidly changing heat was the first thing that I thought of.  I suppose it's still possible, it might be a little warmer up a couple feet higher.

Maybe the thing was already stressed, already had a crack in it, was a cheap replacement? You'd know more about it than me but that's about the only thing I could think of.

Can those lifts put stress on the frame of a vehicle?  Not a lot but is it possible a small amount of stress coupled with the hot/cold stuff could have have done it?

[CAP1]

Weird.  Rapidly changing heat was the first thing that I thought of.  I suppose it's still possible, it might be a little warmer up a couple feet higher.

Maybe the thing was already stressed, already had a crack in it, was a cheap replacement? You'd know more about it than me but that's about the only thing I could think of.

Can those lifts put stress on the frame of a vehicle?  Not a lot but is it possible a small amount of stress coupled with the hot/cold stuff could have have done it?

almost all cars flex all the time. if they didn't, they'd break. there are specific lift points, where we set the lift pads. i suspect it may have had a crack in it somewhere along the edge, although i've never noticed one. i don't know if this window's been replaced or not in the past.

 the company owner came out, and said that he truly thinks that this car is possessed. he wants to blow it up right now. he's been having a couple of bad days, as one of his drivers topped off the washer fluid on one of their cars, and didn't shut the hood right. it came open at 75mph. that was yesterday.

[Dichotomy]

 

blow something up

you'll feel better

[edog1977]

That happened to my families van when I was a kid.  We were all sitting in the living room watching TV when we heard a loud bang come from the garage.  We all ran out to investigate and found that one of the side windows had shattered.  I was convinced someone had thrown a rock at it through the open garage door.  My dad, being an engineer had a different theory.  Hot day, cold garage equals broken window.

I used to work as a tour guide/sales person in an art glass factory. Every blue moon I would get a call from a customer who claimed that the vase they bought 20 years ago suddenly exploded for no reason.  At first I was skeptical, but after talking to the chemist I learned that if the glass wasn't annealed properly stress in the glass could cause it to shatter after a random time interval. I've also witnessed a piece of glass explode on they way to the annealing lehr. My wife, who also worked there, was hit by hot glass when a piece exploded in the middle of the production process.

Maybe a defect in the manufacturing of the window is the culprit in your case.

[Shuffler]

No bullit holes in the garage door?

[Dichotomy]

Drat.. missed again?

I HAVE to get some training in ground attack 

[Babalonian]

i got a customers 97 malibu hanging on the lift, waiting on the tie rod to get here. i'm up here typing an invoice up, and hear a very loud "THUMP". it scared the crap outta me it was so loud. i go out to see what happened, can't find anything....look up at the top of the car, and can see the rear window shattered. nothing fell on it, nothing could've hit it......it just popped.

 great way to end a week that's been nothing short of spectacularly uncooperative.

Ummm.... taking a random guess here, was it one of those lifts with the arms that come in from the sides (rather than a single cylinder underneath the car that is centered with arms protruding out from it)?  Might want to check the frame, possible there is a weakness or compromise in it somewhere that caused the car to bow on the lift, stressing the window.

No bullit holes in the garage door?

Or roof?

This is extremely odd...

[Maverick]

By any chance does the shop heater blow on the area where the window is? A blast of warm or hot air on a cold window could do that.

[NormH3]

Happened too me once. sitting at a traffic light in a company Sable wagon when the rear window just shattered. Scared the livin piss outta me.

[CAP1]

By any chance does the shop heater blow on the area where the window is? A blast of warm or hot air on a cold window could do that.

 i hadn't thought of that. heater is in the far bay, blowing diagonally across the shop. it's been that way for 2 years though.....