Doors frozen shut

Bio · Post by **Bio** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 7:05 am

So I GUESS it's bodywork section this needs to be in..

At any rate this morning I was up for an early shift at 5:30am and unsurprisingly the first freeze has manages to freeze my doors shut.
Both the seals are stuck AND the locking mechs inside the door frozen. I know this because the remote fob activates the locking relay/solenoid and I can hear it click, but the door is damn impossible to open.

So does anyone have any tips to stop the seals freezing and any key points (no pun intended

) that I really should lube on the locking mech to ensure it doesn't freeze again? Would it be ideal really to get the cards off the doors and re-lube everything inside the door?

Cheers!

nitin_s1 · Post by **nitin_s1** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 7:21 am

I used to use luke warm water to u freeze the car, not too hot but just little warm.

Bio · Post by **Bio** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 7:47 am

Yeah I tried that and the seals un-froze but the actual locking mechs were still frozen

BMCC · Post by **BMCC** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 7:58 am

Poor a little warm water over the lock and on the rubber strip directly above the door handle. This will unfreeze the mechs. May sound obvious but if it is going to be freezing then don't wash your car the day before as you are just asking for trouble....

Take a can of silicone spray or something similar and spray all over the weather strip and let it soak in then rub off the excess. This will help prevent the seal from sticking.

Might also be worth cleaning the drain holes at the bottom of the door so that they are clear.

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 9:10 am

does wd40 freeze?

Post by **Donald** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 9:16 am

Yes but at -63 celcius

Post by **indigolemon** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 10:09 am

For the lock mech, get some graphite lubricant like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ambersil-Grap ... 0637666686

For the seals, what BMCC said, silicone lubricant - it's also good for window runners.

Shiny · Post by **Shiny** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 11:01 am

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Einszett-Gumm ... 2a25929e60

Post by **vanzep** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 11:42 am

tjhat stuff looks good Shiny im going to order some today

nothing worse than pulling the door open when its frozen and tearing the rubber trim.

another thing ive noticed is that a lot of the window lower trim strips on the doors get chipped and damaged when scrapping the frost off - so be carefull

they are quite brittle when its below zero

Post by **Pushki** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 11:52 am

Good advice Vanzep!

While we're at it, if you have electric folding mirrors, keep them open if you know it's going to freeze overnight.
I'm sure this was the cause of my cracked plastic during last year's freeze. Both sides went!