Doors frozen shut

[Slimy]

Does anyone have any tips on what to do to prevent car doors being frozen shut? It happens to most cars, when the rubber strip sticks to the door and stops it from opening. The only thing I tried last winter was rubbing a bit of vaseline into the rubber, but that seemed to make things worse!

Any suggestions?

 

[DPJ]

The door seals are there to keep water out of the car - and as such, they'll have water on them. Water freezes.

A water repellent that doesn't harm rubber/paint would help but not eliminate the problem.

 

[truCido]

hot water all around the doors! Doors frozen have been the least of my worries today lol.

Lock on door was frozen, managed to get that sorted after a lot of hot water on the door, then the handle seemed loose and wont open the door, so went around to the passenger side where the door pin seems to be frozen, so climb in through the back doors thinking it'll open from the inside, like fk will it!! lol

Don't think its legal to drive without being able to open your drivers door??

 

[DPJ]

hot water all around the doors! Doors frozen have been the least of my worries today lol.

Lock on door was frozen, managed to get that sorted after a lot of hot water on the door, then the handle seemed loose and wont open the door, so went around to the passenger side where the door pin seems to be frozen, so climb in through the back doors thinking it'll open from the inside, like fk will it!! lol

Don't think its legal to drive without being able to open your drivers door??

I've had this with my Leon where I've managed to open the driver's door, but the door wouldn't latch shut because the lock is frozen. Nightmare.

 

[GlanzaV]

DJP! How did you fix this?? My GF just phoned me 5 min ago and she managed to open the door to the Leon, put the keys in the ignition and went to scrape the windows... she climbed back in and went to shut the door but it just bounced open?? I told her to try the key in the handle but she says it won't turn?

She's stranded in the car with the door open lol! quick replies would be appreciated for my sake lol!

 

[truCido]

if the doors open then I'd pour hot water/de-icer all over the metal bit that actually latches the door in place, however this could lead to it being frozen when she gets back so be prepared to climb out the passenger side lol

 

[GlanzaV]

I told her to spray de-icer on the door mechanism so great minds and all that! also told her to hold the door closed and sit with the hot blowers (when they get hot) pointing at them.

We live on quite a busy road so she doesn't want to run back up to the flat with the door lying open.

Oh well will let you know when she phones back if anything changes.

 

[si-mate]

DJP! How did you fix this?? My GF just phoned me 5 min ago and she managed to open the door to the Leon, put the keys in the ignition and went to scrape the windows... she climbed back in and went to shut the door but it just bounced open?? I told her to try the key in the handle but she says it won't turn?

She's stranded in the car with the door open lol! quick replies would be appreciated for my sake lol!

Mother had the same problem in her Subaru. Her solution: a bit of rope from the door handle to the head rest

 

[DPJ]

Slammed it a few times and it latched.

However, I've driven with it until the heat from the car thawed the lock

THe annoying one is when you go to the boot to try and open it, but that's frozen. Then - miles down the road, you get warning lights because the boot has opened on its own when the lock has thawed.

 

[alexj124]

yeah over xmas i had this issue.

Driver door open but then wouldn't shut and the rest of the doors wouldn' open as they were frozen shut.

I put an electric heater on the rear seat and wacked up the heat also propped the door shut but his was all on a private driveway at my folks so a lot easier.

Worked a treat though so hopefuly the blowers can do the same albeit slower

 

[Damoegan]

I have fixed this in the past by puting some WD40 on a rag and wiping it on the door seals and spraying the lock with WD40 too

 

[GlanzaV]

Slammed it a few times and it latched.

Yep, Brute forces wins the day - She got fed up waiting for it to thaw and tried slamming the door shut again from in the car and it worked! Hurrah!

Will be putting some WD40 in the mechanism tonight when I get home, will need to try and thaw out all the moisture first.

 

[Slimy]

Thanks for the pointers. DPJ, I understand the theory of what's happening, but I don't accept that there isn't a solution. There's people who live in much colder countries than us and they own cars, so there must be something out there!

I'm very wary of having doors that don't shut. I've had one that had delatched, but not open because it was frozen shut. Then when the car has warmed up, the door has come open because the ice has melted!

I have also had the doors frozen open, and I also use the brute force technique!!

I might try WD40 on a rag later, I just wanted to avoid WD40 because of the smell. I wonder if there is a similar lube that doesn't smell as bad.

And whoever uses hot water is a braver man than I am. A bit of frost holding a door or lock is one thing, full on ice blocks is an entirely different kettle of fish!

 

[Fl@pper]

There's people who live in much colder countries than us and they own cars, so there must be something out there!

they park the car inside i would guess

 

[Bedlam]

I might try WD40 on a rag later, I just wanted to avoid WD40 because of the smell. I wonder if there is a similar lube that doesn't smell as bad.

Silicone spray or furniture polish??

 

[Slimy]

Silicone spray or furniture polish??

I was considering furniture polish, as it was suggested to me as a fix for squeaky plastics aswell. Same effect as WD40, but with a nice polish smell instead of oil!

I'm actually gone for a thin smear of lithium grease, as it was handy. A cloth dipped into a tub of grease and wiped on the rubber as thin as possible. It seems to have worked, the three doors I managed to do can now open properly, the fourth is frozen shut again. Seems a bit warmer today though so I might try again.

 

[andycupra]

wipe it down with a dry cloth when parking up for the night will help reduce issue.

 

[gogs]

Does anyone have any tips on what to do to prevent car doors being frozen shut?

Move to a warm country

 

[doodles]

You will probably find that the door seals are not the problem and it will be the latch that has frozen and not operating... You will need to use a silicon spray that with not freeze at a very low temperature.... Had this before and needed to remove the latch and fill with oil, never had the problem in the winter after that....

 

[Slimy]

You will probably find that the door seals are not the problem and it will be the latch that has frozen and not operating... You will need to use a silicon spray that with not freeze at a very low temperature.... Had this before and needed to remove the latch and fill with oil, never had the problem in the winter after that....

Nope, latches are fine, I can feel them unlock and if I push the door I can feel them latch again. When i did finally get the doors open it was with a horrible tearing sound, and the rubbers had a perfect imprint of the door made out of ice...

The lithium grease on the rubber solved the problem as well, I did nothing with the latches.

Thanks for the pointer though...