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Question/ Rant -- Truck and Car Doors.

A

Adirondack case guy

Well-known Member
Well, it seams every time we want to get into one of our vehicles, the dam doors are frozen shut. We had heavy rain showers yesterday, that quickly changed to snow, and this morning it was 19F. I went to open the door on the wife's Ranger, couldn't pull it open. Went and got a large screwdriver and pryed it open, gerrrrr. Cleaned out the upper driveway, where she parks, and went down to the lower one where I park my 99 Dodge ram. Both doors frozen shut. Go back to shop and get screwdriver and pry the door on the Dodge open. Part of the molding tore loose. Dubbbbble Gerrrrrr. Got done clearing driveways, left the wifes truck running to thaw it out. I put trucks back in their parking places. The wifey went out this afternoon,to get into her Ranger to go to post office, temp dropped to 15F, and guess what. The Dmd doors frozen shut again. There used to be rain gutters molded into roof to prevent this problem!!!! I asked her if she had some Vasioline that I could rub on the moldings, She is afraid that it will get all over her cloths.
SOO, how do you guys deal with this problem???
Loren, the Acg.
 
Loren,
I use a silicone moisture repellent...I spray it onto a cloth and then wipe down the rubber gaskets around the doors.

It helps a lot. Even if moisture does get in there and freezes - it the ice cannot adhere as well to that rubber door gasket.
 

Loren ,
I don't have that problem { my stuff still has the gutters ....he-he }
But I do know what you are saying ,, got to make them so theres little air drag for the gas mileage ..
Hang in there it's got to get better ....

,.............. mark
 
Pee on them! it usually thaws enough to get them open, just don't do it in town!
LOL.....Sam
 
Do you have any clue what salt laiden snow does to your stuff in a garage when it melts off a vehicle in there??? BTDT not pretty.
Loren, the Acg.
 
Warm garage? No, seriously, we do get some real cold weather in MN, but not the ice, I'll take the cold weather! We have three garage stalls, one is a heated shop (50F) and enough heat leaks through a 6 inch insulated stud wall to heat the garage. This morning when it was -14F outside it was 28 on the car thermometer when I backed it out. I do carry a wooden wedge in my truck to get the tonneau cover loose from the tailgate sometimes, wood is more forgiving than steel for prying things apart.
 
Very simple you rub it on then take a paper towel and wipe it off again. That leaves a thin film of Vaseline on the rubber but does not leave enough to get on cloth etc
 
silicone speay lube,spray it onto your weather strips,and wipe off the exess with a shop rag I had that problem on my dodge and had a can in the truck a co worker had the same problem sprayed hers up and she was good to go and kind of impressed too!
 
Any of those slick um my favorite it Armor=all Man just has to remember to do it BEFORE the cold weather.
 
Loren,

Install some automatic car starters,real nice to get in a warm,or semi warm,vehicle.

Just a thought

Vito
 
Instead of prying them open with a screwdriver, get a hair dryer or a heat gun and run it around the door. The doors on my pickup froze a couple of times and I just used the wife's hair dryer. Only took a couple of minutes.
 
Loren a friend of mine has in floor heat in his garage and he pulls his car in and in the morning his car is dry and the floor is dry. Ever so often he takes a broom and sweeps the floor and the salt never gets to anything on the floor of the garage. Also I have to say that the floor is all sloped so that the water runs to the middle where the floor drain is.

Bob
 
If you have a spray can of the windshield ice / frost melt you can spray it around the door opening and it will quickly melt the ice from the weather striping.
 
Pour warm water over the areas that are frozen, then wipe the areas with a towel when the doors are open.
 
Silicone grease is what many of the European car makers tell you to use on the gaskets. Sometimes you can find jars of Dow Corning vacuum grease (for lab use) cheap from surplus dealers.

I would stay away from oil based things like the WD-40.

Josh
 
When I parked in the garage, it wasn't a problem with standing water contacting stuff, it was the air in there was salt air. Even took it's toll on my wrenches in my Snap-On tool chest up on a work bench. Aso the rust really took ahold on the Jeep Cherokee that I was driveing at the time. Road salt is the first line of defense, on roads around here. And they wonder why under ground electrical services are blowing manhole covers off in the local cities. Salt is eating up the NE intrastructure.
Loren, the Acg.
 
Sell a couple tractors? Your truck/ tractor ratio is a little lopsided. I feel your pain/cold. Just kiddin. Jerry.
 
1996 ice storm the doors on my pickup would not open, thinking they were frozen shut I tried the screwdriver and pried, pried and pried but to no success. finally realized I had not unlocked the doors.
 
There's a product called "de-ice" that works reasonably well. Spray bottle. BUT, here's what worked better than anything I ever saw. I was based out of JFK at the time and we were on our way out to our employee parking lot and one of our stews couldn't unlock the door of her car. Lock was frozen. We tried breathing into it, etc. Meanwhile, the Old Captain walked over to his old seven cylinder Cadillac (don't ask) as if he wasn't the least bit interested. He came back a few minutes later with a half full bottle of Wild Turkey (again, don't ask) took a mouthful of it, blew it into her lock (cardoor lock) and inserted the key (into the cardoor lock) turned it, opened door and walked off with his Wild Turkey resembling, in a way, the Lone Ranger. "Who was that masked man, we asked?" as he thundered off in his seven cylinder Cadillac (again, don't ask). True story. (;>))
 
Loren, I know what you're talking about. I finally painted the garage floor with an epoxy paint because the salt drip was eating the concrete floor alive. Had to trowel some cement patch over the floor to smooth off the pits and craters first. Jim
 
I use Pam cooking spray in CNY. The cheap stuff from wally world doesn't cut it, have to use the real stuff. FIL was of old hot water school and boy did SWMBO complain when taking one her parents to Drs. Had her Pam them and FIL hasn't used hot water in a couple years.
FYI, works real good on dragrace cars to aid in getting the rubber off the quarter panels.
 
Frozen locks--WD-40 or Chain lube spray with a wand. In the chain lube it's the graphite.

Frozen doors--Wipe the rubber down with WD-40 or the silcon spray. The wax idea is a good one. Something to seal the rubber. OR just keep the doors shut so they stay dry.
 
glad to see I ain't the only one that thinks all car designers must live in southern california!
body panels that drain down thru the door jamb creating a 3" thick ice column from truck to ground.
window molding with such a deep channel to keep the wind noise off the delicate......windows always frozen.
pretty much everything recessed for aero, covered in ice.....
computer sensors (tire pressure, etc) that freak out below zero.
ya, I know, I should move :D
and garage would be nice, but a long shift at work...not fun when you just want to get home....

ps in really cold temps, I use solvent, silicone, etc, never water.
splashing water on it may work, but it will flash freeze in minutes, usually making the problem worse.
 
Same here Loren, my 99 dodge Dakota had the doors froze shut yesterday and today, I also used the craftsman screwdriver!
 

There is absolutely NO way I would ever pry a frozen car door open with a screw driver. A 1 gallon milk jug filled with luke warm water is the only thing I will use.
 
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