Car lock "key" de-icer

[Mx5guy]

Hei, just a quick question. My car is fine, but a friend has a lot of problems with the locks on her car freezing. This results in the key turning in the lock, but the actual lock not moving. Once in the car it can also result in the door staying open (when you close the door the lock does not hold and so the door is completely free to open). If you then hold the door closed and the car warms up enough this fixes.

Does anyone use the "keys" that you put in the locks which heat-up and melt the ice in the lock? If so are they any good? Hot water isn't an option as it gets down to -20C here, and the lock de-icer makes things worse the next time by removing the grease in the lock.

I know one option is WD40 and then spray silicon grease in after, to stop it re-freezing. I will be doing this to help reduce the problem, but figured it's good to have another option.

[Baryonyx]

Can you not just heat a key with a lighter and let that melt the ice in the lock?

This winter I've had a couple of mornings of coming outside and finding my car door frozen shut! Luckily I've been able to get in through the passenger door to start the car and get it warming! Failing that I suppose it would be a bottle of lukewarm water sloshed around the door!

[anonymous-user]

Throw a big glug of WD40 into the lock.

Lubricates as well as repelling water and reducing the frozen lock problem.

[bill bob]

I got one of those battery operated de-icing keys for Christmas, it's broken already, and we haven't even had any really cold weather yet for me to test it.

[Maximum Bobs]

Sounds more like the levers/rods than the lock. Might be worth pulling the interior door panel off & having a look, grease where necessary & check the rubber that goes along the bottom of the window to see if there's excessive amounts of water getting to the mechanism rods, etc. I'd still spray a bit of wd40 in the locks though as it certainly wont harm.

[RV8]

I got my key stuck in the mx5 once, ended up having to thread my house key off so I could go back in and grab the kettle. You could heat the key up with a lighter, those heat up fobs aren't bad either, if you spray anything in there just check what it's freezing point is as it's been so cold before that de-iced froze on the glass after I sprayed it.