Frozen door

christmas_carole

Hello to you all,

Hope someone can shed some light on my problem, I have an '02' Hyundai Coupe and since we've been having the bad weather my drivers door lock is freezing, the passenger side opens, luckily, with the central locking so I'm having to climb over the gear stick every morning :mad: not a pretty sight.

Any idea how I can rectify this problem please?

Chocolate80

If it is just down to the cold weather, you can buy some de-icing fluid purely for car locks. I'm assuming you could buy it in Halfords. Other than that, I'm afraid I have no advice.

mikey72

I had a golf, only way in on a freezing morning was with a kettle of water. Lock, handle, even the door seals froze solid.

catflea

When the lock is free (i.e non frozen) put a small amount of WD40 on the key and insert it into the lock and open/close. Rinse and repeat 2 or 3 times. When doing it, use a cloth below the lock to ensure you dont get WD40 drips on your paintwork.

I know someone who swears by brake fluid for this job. Rather him than me though...

you should be lubricating the lock mech on most cars anyway (but people never do!)

As for the frozen door seals, same trick can work. WD40 on a cloth, and wipe the seals down. If they ARE frozen then a pouring of warm water down the door gaps will assist

anewman

Cleaning the door seals with an appropriate cleaner with silicone oil in should stop the doors freezing to the seals. Graphite powder in the locks should help stop them freezing up too, but in my experience the bit that often freezes is the mechanism inside and the handle.

RE: WD40, I wouldn't use WD40 near locks. It attracts grit which damages the lock.

One thing to try may be a lighter on the key metal to heat it up, so as it is inserted it defrosts any ice.

mr_skinflint

It's often just the fact that a bit of water has got into the door seal and frozen, stopping the door from opening. Put a bit of Vaseline around the door seal and this should stop the water ingress and the subsequent freezing.

vaio

catflea wrote: »

When the lock is free (i.e non frozen) put a small amount of WD40 on the key and insert it into the lock and open/close. Rinse and repeat 2 or 3 times. When doing it, use a cloth below the lock to ensure you dont get WD40 drips on your paintwork.

I know someone who swears by brake fluid for this job. Rather him than me though...

you should be lubricating the lock mech on most cars anyway (but people never do!)

As for the frozen door seals, same trick can work. WD40 on a cloth, and wipe the seals down. If they ARE frozen then a pouring of warm water down the door gaps will assist

I agree, stay well away from brake fluid

anewman

mr_skinflint wrote: »

It's often just the fact that a bit of water has got into the door seal and frozen, stopping the door from opening. Put a bit of Vaseline around the door seal and this should stop the water ingress and the subsequent freezing.

Vaseline is a petroleum based product. I know for certain Vaseline damages rubber (never use vaseline with condoms kids) - not 100% sure if it damages the modern neoprene door seals, but stuff with silicone oil in or silicone oil won't damage rubber and will do the same job.

christmas_carole

Thanks to you all for your suggestions, I'm sure it's the door mechanism thats freezing up, my OH has had it to bits and cleaned and oiled it, it works perfectly when the temperature is above freezing.
I assume I will just have to get used to climbing over the gear stick!!!!!

anewman

Perhaps park the car facing the other way then the other door will freeze up instead?

christmas_carole

Thanks will give that a try, mind you the passenger side seemed more frozen than drivers this morning :eek:, roll on the summer.