Anyone's car-locks frozen?

doubleglaze

Only able to unlock one of my car doors (back passenger door). Other locks completely frozen. Anyone else have this?

dirtyghettokid

no but my door was frozen shut yesterday. get some de-ice spray - there's loads of it around these days in local shops

Mr Benevolent

Blowtorch - it's the only way.

lilahelena

heat your key up & then try to open the door

Use a lighter to heat the key

Dublinvillian

back door of my van frozen , santy items hidden inside , hope it thaws out before christmas

cscook

We have an old car and this is a regular problem. This time of year I spray WD40 into the locks every couple of weeks. De-icer does the job when it's the door seals rather than the lock.

SantryRed

if you can open one door, start your engine, it'll heat the car and defreeze the locks.

kkontour

1. Get the passenger to drink 2 pints of beer.
2. Wait for natures call.
3. Warm up lock with produce.
(easier if male)

cynder

When you have the doors open spray wd40 in the locks worked on mine last week haven't frozen since, to open the door i poured hot water over handle until it opened then the sensor went haywire and kept telling me the door was open.

MollyZ

This happened to me last week and just want to warn you not to do what I did! I managed to get one door open just by pouring warm water on the door, decided to run the engine to warm up the car, but didn't realise that although I'd opened one door, the central locking thing didn't work, so when I closed the door, the keys were locked inside
Maybe most people would realise this can happen, but just in case ...

Gran Hermano

Do not use water to de-ice your windows. You are only letting it seep into locks to later freeze them.

geetar

i have a neat little de-icer injection thingy. it squirts into a lock. havnt had to use it yet mind you...

Gremlin

If your at home try a hairdryer on full blast. SHould do the trick.

Villain

Hair-dryer best answer if available

kincsem

I used a hair-dryer on a long extension lead to heat my windscreen from the inside (door almost closed.) It worked better than pouring water on the windscreen. I was careful to keep the cables away from water and the hair-dryer not too close to the windscreen.

I assume it would work for locks too.

foxinsox

I've been managing to get into passenger side every morning last week or so... slide/bump/ouch over to drivers side.. start car and then wait for doors to defrost..

I've tried warm water on doors but has been re-freezing straight away..

Tried lighter on key trick this morning and worked a dream..

kincsem

Feck. Beaten to the punch by the hair-dryer mafia. :mad:

Brianmeath

Use hot water followed by plenty of WD40,


it should keep moisture out.

Brianmeath

Confab wrote: »

Blowtorch - it's the only way.

Great for petrol caps as well:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Not

You can get fan heater type things that plug into a cars 12V socket. Obviously, one door has to be operational in order to get into the car, but once you're in and can plug it in its great for defrosting stubborn door seals, locks and screen wash injectors (where winter grade screen wash fails). See ebay. Obviously though if you need to get one like right now you're out of luck.

Cautionary tale : In the last cold spell I tryed to open the two back doors of my car. They wouldn't budge at all. They were totally welded to the car by the ice. So I said fe€k that, locked both doors from the inside, and set off down the motorway. When I came into warmer the door seals spontaneously defrosted and both back doors suddenly popped open while I was driving on the motorway. It seems on my car that once you unlock a door and pull the door handles to try to open it, the catches and locks will not reengage even if set back into the locked position unless the door has been opened and shut again. Morale of the story - if you try to open a car door and it doesn't open because of frozen seals, dont drive until you have succeeded to open the door and shut it again.

Pangea

If ur stuck in a place without water have a good piss on it , works for some. :cool:

Not

foxinsox wrote: »

I've been managing to get into passenger side every morning last week or so... slide/bump/ouch over to drivers side.. start car and then wait for doors to defrost..

I've tried warm water on doors but has been re-freezing straight away..

Tried lighter on key trick this morning and worked a dream..

Water does not work well for anything when it's -8C out...

cruizer101

This has happened me alright, passenger door opened so I thought I was grand, I wasn't.

I got into car started it up to warm it up a bit, while in there tried the button on the inside of driver door, it kinda went halfway but didn't work, no problem I think. I get out to de-ice windscreen, passenger door closes over, and little did I realise when I fiddled with the driver door button although I didn't get far enough to open I got far enough to activate central locking, and close the locks. So passenger door ends up locked, luckily it was just closed over and not shut, so we were able to wedge door open a bit and reach pipe in to open the window.

I'm very careful now, as I was very close to having a bloody awkward situation, as it was about 11 at night on a Sunday, with engine running, so would have been an expensive call to a lock doctor.

Min

Brianmeath wrote: »

Great for petrol caps as well:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

:pac:

hinault

WD 40 is the solution folks.

Apply some to the door locks on your car before the locks freeze.

Has worked a treat for me for the past three weeks and only had to apply it once.
Locks worked every time without any hassle!

Stheno

Or try spraying silicone lubricant on the locks and door seals every evening, works for me

snaps

Lots of people getting caught out with their engines freezing (No anti freeze or not enough anti freeze). I know of 3 people that have now got cars that are frozen up! Seems this is the case with cars that are older and not properly serviced and then the ignorant people that have the "Its not cold enough in this country to require anti freeze" attitude!

Its a real testing time for drivers.

And i wont even start on the stupidy ive seen from drivers.

Caoimhín

Spray anti freeze or a de-icier on it, water will only freeze again.

Caoimhín

snaps wrote: »

And i wont even start on the stupidy ive seen from drivers.

It is frightening the number of people driving around in the snow and fog without ANY lights on.

Cleavage1970

Earlier in the year when we had this weather all my car doors froze. It didnt matter whether it was warm water or de icer I put on the windows - they re froze instantly and the warm water on the doors froze too. I was due into work at 9am that day and only at 3.30pm I got a rear door open and climbed through to the front and tuned engine on and heated car from inside - fecking disaster of a day!

busymum1

alcohol hand gel on your key and leave it in the lock for a few minutes. An internet tip and it's worked really well. No water it only makes them worse the following day.