car doors frozen

steveo3002

silicone grease is what your sposed to use on rubber door seals

KeithP

I imagine the OP has got in and driven off.

Not a word of thanks to anyone.

harz99

KeithP wrote: »

I imagine the OP has got in and driven off.

Not a word of thanks to anyone.

Yup, happens a lot of the time whether on forums or in real life; of course there could be a perfectly good reason.......but we are never likely to find out!

mark5

A few years back I went out about 5.30 am to go in to work for my morning shift, it was a nice cold Welsh morning and I was living on high ground at the time. My car was frozen solid so I boiled some water and used it to de-ice my windscreen and side windows etc.
I drove the 14 miles to work no problem at all.
However when I got to work I couldnt open my doors or windows, the boiling water I had de iced my car with had frozen my doors and windows shut, it was probably the wind chill of driving on the M4.
I had to ring a work mate on my mobil so he could come outside and help me get out of the car, loads of ppl come out for a look and laugh at my expense while a 15 stone college had to really yank my door open with some force.
My advice, dont use water no matter how hot it is when you tip it on!

Mark

thor

Until a couple of years ago I always used to park up in my garage but due to storage requirements I have to leave my car outside. Consequently I never experienced the frozen lock problem but it nearly happened to me a couple of days ago so I decided I better be prepared for it should it happen properly next time. Therefore I went out and got a can of anti-freeze and have put it away for when it is needed. Now after reading this thread I see a few posts suggesting that using it on locks(or windows) is not the way to go. This leaves me wondering just exactly what is antifreeze good for?

DaveMacD

Had something similar years back when I had to get petrol for my bike, only to find that the lock was frozen solid. Had to ask the woman in the garage for a cup of hot water to get the filler cap off...

The door seal thing seems to happen more to vehicles where the top of the door curls over the roofline slightly. The old fashioned design of recessed doors don't seem to have as many problems.

Wig

thor,

You mean de-icer spray?

It's good enough for ice on windscreen, just not necessary, a scrape with a credit card or a pot of warm water will do the trick. But you have to drive off straight away, otherwise the water you just poured will re freeze.

Frozen doors either silicone spray/grease or vaseline to prevent it.

Sagz_2

harz99 wrote: »

Yup, happens a lot of the time whether on forums or in real life; of course there could be a perfectly good reason.......but we are never likely to find out!

Maybe the OP is now stuck in the car with all doors frozen shut

KeithP

thor wrote: »

Until a couple of years ago I always used to park up in my garage but due to storage requirements I have to leave my car outside. Consequently I never experienced the frozen lock problem but it nearly happened to me a couple of days ago so I decided I better be prepared for it should it happen properly next time. Therefore I went out and got a can of anti-freeze and have put it away for when it is needed. Now after reading this thread I see a few posts suggesting that using it on locks(or windows) is not the way to go. This leaves me wondering just exactly what is antifreeze good for?

The antifreeze that is used to stop the engine cooling system from freezing is almost certainly harmful to the car's paintwork.

The de-icer, that I imagine you have bought, will not harm the paintwork... but should not be used in the cooling system.

harz99

Just want to add to everyone's advice that, "Vaseline" is a brand name and the product you want is Petroleum Jelly BP, which is inevitably cheaper as a chemist/supermarket own brand.

In either case use sparingly on the rubber surfaces being aware that you don't want it on your clothes!