Frozen door seals
Discussion
Something I've not really experienced in 50+ years....
Attempt to pull open doors (not locked) slight movement on the rubber seals but frozen solid. Freed the drivers side with warm water along the aperture and eventually got in. Started engine, left running popped into house, gets back, door seized again, more warm water. Jumped into car and tried setting the heater, would you believe I'm trapped as the door has frozen shut again! Required repeated shoulder charges to escape.
Any suggestions for something to rub on the door seals to stop them freezing? All 4 doors are the same problem.
Thanks
Attempt to pull open doors (not locked) slight movement on the rubber seals but frozen solid. Freed the drivers side with warm water along the aperture and eventually got in. Started engine, left running popped into house, gets back, door seized again, more warm water. Jumped into car and tried setting the heater, would you believe I'm trapped as the door has frozen shut again! Required repeated shoulder charges to escape.
Any suggestions for something to rub on the door seals to stop them freezing? All 4 doors are the same problem.
Thanks
Not Vaseline! Vaseline is a petrol derivative and will destroy rubber, door seals or not.Skyedriver said:
Something I've not really experienced in 50+ years....
Attempt to pull open doors (not locked) slight movement on the rubber seals but frozen solid. Freed the drivers side with warm water along the aperture and eventually got in. Started engine, left running popped into house, gets back, door seized again, more warm water. Jumped into car and tried setting the heater, would you believe I'm trapped as the door has frozen shut again! Required repeated shoulder charges to escape.
Any suggestions for something to rub on the door seals to stop them freezing? All 4 doors are the same problem.
Thanks
Unlike a windscreen, don't use water to release door seals. With a windscreen, the wipers remove the excess water and you're immediately left with a dry and clean surface. With the door seals, unless you fully dry them, you now have water sitting next to big chunks of metal, the doors and the car frame which fully enclose the water and the seals. When you close the door, the low temperature of this frozen metal cage will act like a freezer and pretty much immediately lower the temperature of the water you've used to release the seals to freeze the seals together again. Attempt to pull open doors (not locked) slight movement on the rubber seals but frozen solid. Freed the drivers side with warm water along the aperture and eventually got in. Started engine, left running popped into house, gets back, door seized again, more warm water. Jumped into car and tried setting the heater, would you believe I'm trapped as the door has frozen shut again! Required repeated shoulder charges to escape.
Any suggestions for something to rub on the door seals to stop them freezing? All 4 doors are the same problem.
Thanks
Either use just brute force if you haven't done anything else, or if you use water to release, make sure you dry the seals, or alternatively leave the door open for a while so that the seals are away from each other while they refreeze in the blistering cold and not stuck together.
I don't know if the silicon sprays work, I haven't tried them before. I've relied on simple brute force until now.
I had a similar experience with my Combo van recently, but it was the sliding side door that wouldn't open.
The door unlocked but wouldn't slide. But there was nowhere available to put a shoulder to!
In the end I opened the passenger door and put my foot to the edger of the slider. A few gentle rocks back and forth and it finally opened.
I then drove to the petrol station only to find that the fuel filler cap was also frozen shut! A kettle of hot water solved that issue!
The door unlocked but wouldn't slide. But there was nowhere available to put a shoulder to!
In the end I opened the passenger door and put my foot to the edger of the slider. A few gentle rocks back and forth and it finally opened.
I then drove to the petrol station only to find that the fuel filler cap was also frozen shut! A kettle of hot water solved that issue!
Jayho said:
I just ordered some Liqui Moly Gummi-pflege to put onto my rubber seals at the top. I've got a frameless window, so extra difficult. I used previously in another car and it worked fine too.
I was only saying to MrsMikeIOW how I was going to use that stuff again on my doors. Bought it years ago.Not sure it entirely solves the issue, but certainly should help!
Had to pee on mine once.
Had left the car at the pub, country pub in middle of nowhere, was acold walk home (one pint turned into four).
6am the next morning and the temp had plummeted to -15 overnight. doors well and trruly frozen shut. Pee'd on it then washed off with the bottle of water I had.
Crude but effective
Had left the car at the pub, country pub in middle of nowhere, was acold walk home (one pint turned into four).
6am the next morning and the temp had plummeted to -15 overnight. doors well and trruly frozen shut. Pee'd on it then washed off with the bottle of water I had.
Crude but effective
Jayho said:
I just ordered some Liqui Moly Gummi-pflege to put onto my rubber seals at the top. I've got a frameless window, so extra difficult. I used previously in another car and it worked fine too.
This. Mrs DS and I have had SLKs and SLs for the last 18 years now and I religiously use this stuff on all the myriad rubber seals on the folding roof mechanisms - Sonax in my case. Also use it on door seals.
PlywoodPascal said:
Evercross said:
+1 for silicone spray. Essential when I had my Alfa GT
but what did you do to stop the door seals sticking?
GT had frameless doors with glass that popped up into a seal on the roofline when closed, and the windows would drop slightly automatically when you touched the door handle so that you could get the door open. Occasional spraying of the silicone liquid along the bottom edge of the window and into the rubber seal at the top made sure the operation of the window drop worked every time regardless of temperature (as ice does not adhere to the silicone coated surface).
I had kind of the opposite problem in my old BMW, could open it easily enough, but once the door handle was opened it stuck in its open position so closing the door wouldn’t sit shut and it just flopped about, so I had to pull it closed as tight I could and then put the door lock manually down 
after about 10 minutes the door seemed to warm up and it would shut properly.. but had happened a few times.
after about 10 minutes the door seemed to warm up and it would shut properly.. but had happened a few times.Gassing Station | Home Mechanics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff