drivers door not opening in frost

[karl210]

My drivers side door wont open from the outside in the frost, there is no resistance on the handle it just lifts up asif the door is still locked and the door wont budge. But if i climb through the passenger side and open it from the inside it opens as normal. And once the car has warmed up it works fine. Anyone else having this problem and know how to sort it? its getting on my nerves a bit and im considering dipping the locking mechanism in antifreeze

 

[Mpathe]

Yes it's pretty common, it's the catch mechanism freezing. Spray some lubricant on the mechanism and should be fine

 

[karl210]

cool cheers, do i need to take the door card off or just spray the bit you can see? will wd40 or silicone lube be best?

 

[Artimus]

Don't remove the card! spray what you can see and into the lock as well! if it continues, get some graphited lube in the lock itself, then work the key a few times. it's just ice in there.

note: a temporary solution is to heat your key for 20 secs with a lighter before trying it.

 

[karl210]

sprayed it with wd40 and the ****** frost hasnt been back since so will have to wait and see. That reminds me though some cars have heated locks when you hold the key in the unlock position for a certain amount of time, do these cars have it?

 

[anderswhk]

Pretty sure they dont, Karl.

 

[voorhees]

I'd say its the rubber door seal iced up to the body.

 

[karl210]

its definitely not the rubber seal because when i climbed in the passenger side and opened the drivers door from the inside it opened asif it was a summers day!
Just had a look in the handbook now, page 12. The heated door locks are activated by pulling the door handle breifly. The system operates at outside temperatures below 5 degrees C. The heating stays on for 50 seconds and you can re-activate it again by breifly pulling the handle again.

 

[Artimus]

I'd say its the rubber door seal iced up to the body.

Vaseline\Silicone spray on the door frame rubbers prevents sticking & tearing too ..but you need the doors open to apply it.

that reminds me, my boot lid got stuck the other night! I'm off to do it before the frost returns.