winter door problems

[volcomsk8a]

Does anyone here live in an area where the temp will get below zero is the winter? Usually when it does around here my door will not shut. the locking mechanism will freeze stuck. meaning I pretty much have to drive around holding the door.
My plan is to take the door apart and just lube the hell out of everything any other ideas?

[Tony2005]

"Does anyone here live in an area where the temp will get below zero is the winter?"
Used to.

"My plan is to take the door apart and just lube the hell out of everything any other ideas?"
I used to just spray the locking mechanism with WD40 without taking apart the door.

[volcomsk8a]

tried that last year and got nothing. i'm thinking i need some dense grease

[posthuman63t]

yea, here in wisconsin...

The problems I've had with the weather are usually not being able to open the door because it freezes shut. It's happened time and time again, even when I put some sort of a lube on the door seal. Last year I had the same problem you did, I wound up driving the car into the garage and using a hairdryer oon the lock mechanism for a couple minutes and it wound up shutting. YOU ARE NOT ALONE! hehe

[volcomsk8a]

sounds like it needs to be some sort of recall, i wish

[hmouta]

yep and i have to hold the door closed while i'm driving until the interior of the car warms up enough to warm the door, then it will close and latch properly.

[volcomsk8a]

very lame huh

[Snipey]

definetly not alone.
door wont catch for a while. especially sucks if the car is being parked and the door wont close

[getsum111]

I use a rope & tie it to the other door. Once heater gets going, the door ill catch, then I hide the rope till next time. I've tried grease, no success.

[ancientsanskrit]

Happens to me every winter I've been at college. Since I have to park my car outside. It also usually freezes when I go up to the library and leave it outside in the night till early morning. I always use a methanol-based de-icer. I bet it's horrible for the paint, but when you're groggy at 3am from reading all night and are standing outside freezing, it's the best method! I can't imagine why wd-40 wouldn't work for you. I'd imagine you would have to spray a bit more than a dedicated de-icer, but nonetheless it should work.

Try a dedicated de-icer though. They're relatively cheap, and I'm still using the same can from four years ago. Now spraying this on the actual door latch may not be a good idea. I usually spray this stuff in-between the weathering strip where water gets in-between and hardens making the door stuck to the body.