Frozen car lock

Richard53

EdGasket wrote: »

Just poor some hot water over it from the kettle; never fails. Used to do that all the time when I was a student parked in bleak conditions.

But if you return to the car when you are away from home, that is going to be difficult.

Halfords do a tiny little de-icing aerosol which works fine for a couple of quid. (Don't do as I did and keep in the door pocket for safety until I realised.) Otherwise you need to get heat in there to unfreeze it. Hot water if you have it, bodily fluids if your capacity and aim is good, blow into the lock if all else fails. But do not under any circumstances touch your lips to the metal, cup your hands and blow through that. Or use a cigarette lighter to heat the key and try to push it in, bit by bit, reheating the key every time. All of these have worked for me at one time or another. WD-40 squirted in the lock before it freezes is a good preventative, as is silicon spray. Both make the lock internals slippery so the ice can't get a grip.

I got stuck on my old trailbike once, set off for work with almost no petrol. At the filling station, with 10 miles and 20 minutes to go before my shift, the bloody petrol cap lock was frozen. I ended up giving it the hot air treatment, bending down and blowing into the keyhole. It worked fine, but the guys in the filling station are still talking about the strange man who decided to pleasure his Yamaha on their forecourt.

PippaGirl_2

pogofish wrote: »

Spray some WD-40 into the lock (with the little tube) and do so every few weeks through the winter - That should keep it from freezing.

In the meantime, a hot towel pressed over the lock and surrounding door should help free it. Then get squirting

I tried the WD40 spray and heating the door all to no avail but I now have a new WD40 can with straw and the bloke in the car shop said it is a preventative measure and more effective with the straw hence it not working yesterday as a cure. Now my lock is all WD40'd with the straw so I am really hoping this stops it happening again as none of my cure methods worked. I have also spent time reversing the car down my close and onto my drive which means any sunshine rising would be on the key lock and driver door. Pain reversing all down the road but worth it!

It was so frustrating yesterday and ruined the days plans.

Thank you everyone for your help.

PippaGirl_2

Hot water didn't work yesterday at all. Neither did de-icer, or the 'friction' in out method! I tried every suggestion on this thread er apart from the bodily fluids method!

Disappointed now to see some people say WD40 doesn't work, maybe as a cure but it works to prevent?

Prothet_of_Doom

One thing is TRY the other door (and the boot.....I have climbed in through the boot previously).

Mind you I used to have a cavalier and the central locking had 2 positions, and you had to remember not to dead lock it otherwise the key wouldn't operate in the other locks.

Obviously hot water works.

Horizon81

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

One thing is TRY the other door (and the boot.....I have climbed in through the boot previously).

OP said in post #1 that passenger door doesn't have a lock in it, like a lot of cars these days.

infernalaffairs

I bought a keyring deicer off ebay for a few pounds, uses 2 AA batteries. Haven't had to use it yet!

pogofish

PippaGirl wrote: »

Disappointed now to see some people say WD40 doesn't work, maybe as a cure but it works to prevent?

It works fine as a preventative measure IME - I've only had a handful of frozen locks across several cars/motorcycles in several decades.

But yes, once frozen, it can be quite a job to thaw a lock and IME, few of those lock "de-icers" live up to the name, at least not in Scottish winter conditions. Better to see it won't freeze in the first place!

Norman_Castle

The latch froze on my door once. The door opened but then wouldn't stay shut. I couldn't drive the car or leave it like that. It wasn't funny trying to un-freeze it at minus four while getting covered in slush from passing buses. I swore a lot.

Tucker

PippaGirl wrote: »

Hot water didn't work yesterday at all. Neither did de-icer, or the 'friction' in out method! I tried every suggestion on this thread er apart from the bodily fluids method!

QUOTE]

Spoilsport....:rotfl:

red_eye

Iceweasel wrote: »

There is available a special lock lubricant and de-icer which works better than WD-40 - you'll find it at Halfords, Tesco and Asda etc.

WD40 needs to be re-applied every couple of days by poking the little plastic pipe into the lock.

The other thing to watch for even if you have central-locking is the rubber seals freezing to the door-frame. They can be easily damaged by excessive force to open the door.

That's an easy fix - you just need to spray some de-icer on a paper towel and wipe all round the rubber seals on the door and the door-frame.

or silicone lube on the rubbers every time you wash the car