Winter is an unpredictable time. Especially if it's cold outside, and your car spends the night in the open air or in an unheated garage. In this case, problems can arise even before you get behind the wheel and start driving. Imagine: earlier in the morning, you approach the car, click the remote key, hear how the relay works, but you cannot open the doors ... What to do in this situation and how to prevent such an unpleasant turn, we will talk about this in our material.

Why is this happening?

The door seal is made of rubber and serves important purposes, including noise and water insulation, draft protection, etc. At the same time, rubber, if not cared for properly, tends to deform and crack. Especially strongly this material changes its properties in the cold, losing elasticity and hardening. In addition, due to the constant operation of the doors, enough dirt accumulates on the seal, and in wet weather, moisture. At low temperatures, this mixture turns into ice, and the doors freeze tightly to the openings. What to do if, in a good way, the sealer does not want to give up, and is it possible to save stubborn rubber, preserving its integrity and finally getting into the car? At the same time, of course, I would like to do everything quickly, especially if it's cold outside.

Option one. For those in a hurry

How to act?

It happens that morning delay was not at all part of your plans, but an important meeting is on the nose. Or the whole family dances nearby in the cold, and the initial bewilderment gradually begins to turn into completely different and not so harmless emotions. In this case, we have to act decisively: with a powerful effort, trying not to think about the consequences, we tear the door on ourselves.

Risks

Alas, such actions, as a rule, are accompanied by a rupture or complete tearing out of the frozen seal. You will get into the car and get to work, but the rubber inserts will have to be changed. As a rule, at your own expense, even if the machine is under warranty. Otherwise, snow and moisture will begin to get into the cabin through the cracks, sound insulation will be broken and other troubles will occur. After all, as we remember, seals perform an important function, so they must remain intact.

Advice

If you have already decided to tear off the door, then choose the victim not the front driver's one, but one of the rear passenger ones, preferably the left one. Once in the cabin and moved to the driver's seat, turn on the stove - the rest of the doors will gradually thaw and open. Seal the door with a damaged seal on your own and with improvised materials and start planning expenses for the repair of these structural elements in the family budget.

Option two. For those who have time

How to act?

But if you are not in a hurry and the prospect of a torn seal is not at all included in your plans, then you do not need to pull the door, but you should try to use other methods. First of all, we carefully clean the snow and ice around the perimeter of the door. A special scraper is well suited for this purpose. If it is not at hand and there is no one to ask, then other items are used: a ruler from the child's briefcase, a plastic card, which is not a pity, and any other things, preferably made of plastic. After that, we begin to water the opening with a winter windshield washer. A quality product, for example, has a dissolving effect on the ice, and the door will gradually thaw.

Risks

Even if you have time and you have carefully done all the manipulations, there is still a risk of damaging the seal. Therefore, the defrosting procedure should again be performed above the rear left door. In addition, pick up the pointed objects with which you plan to clean the ice, especially carefully. Metal products can leave scratches on the paintwork. And certainly do not water the body with boiling water!

Advice

Pour winter windshield washer into a bottle with a narrow neck to reduce the consumption of valuable fluid for such a thankless task. If you have a ready-to-use product, then you are in luck: the convenient packaging is equipped with a narrow neck, making it easy to pour the product into the tank. Well, or use it as described above. In addition, this tool will not cause any harm to the paintwork or rubber seals.

Option three. For those who are usually lucky

How to act?

There is another option that might work (especially if you are usually lucky). Let's call it a "manual" way to open a frozen door. First, we clean the snow and ice from the openings, and then we press hard on the door, as if trying to push it inward. Then carefully tap the entire opening around the perimeter. It is hoped that the hardened hollow seal will deform and the ice will simply crack and crumble. Doing all these manipulations, periodically try to open the door.

Risks

Remember that frost from the paintwork must be cleaned very carefully. We press hard on the door, but carefully, for fear of deformation of the coating.

Advice

All the methods described above either require time-consuming or have a high risk of damage to the seal. Therefore, it is much easier to prevent this trouble than to try to solve it on a frosty morning.

In the arsenal of SONAX car cosmetics there is a simple but very effective tool that allows you to forget about problems of this kind for the whole winter. cares for rubber, keeping it soft and elastic even at low temperatures. It is enough to walk with this tool on the rubber seals of doors, windows and trunk to prevent them from freezing after washing the car or getting snow and moisture on them in frosty winter conditions. Then you will get to work on time, and you will not need to spend the family budget on replacing seals!

If at least one door opened, then we can assume that you have coped with the problem. At a minimum, you can get to the driver's seat, turn on the oven and freeze the locks using the heat from the passenger compartment.

2. If you were able to insert the key into the lock all the way, then you can try to open the lock by turning the key in different directions. In parallel, you can tap on the castle and around it.

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This method should be tried on all doors. The main thing is not to overdo it, as the key is easy to break.

3. If the previous method did not work, try heating the key (with matches, a lighter) and try all of the above steps again.

© bee32 / Getty Images Pro

4. If you don't mind covering your car door, you can try heating the lock itself with an open fire.

5. Prepare a plastic bottle, balloon or other container and collect boiling water. Next, firmly lean against the lock and try to warm it up, while do not forget to periodically turn the key.

6. You can try warming up the castle with a hair dryer. Of course, this method is possible if the car is near the house and you have a long enough extension cord and a hair dryer. You can ask your neighbors to help you.

Read also:

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7. Purchase a lock defroster. It is better if it comes with a straw or a thin spout, as you will have to squirt it into the castle. After that, insert the key into the lock and try to twist it.

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8. You can also warm the lock using exhaust gases from a nearby car. To do this, you will need a hose of the desired diameter and the consent of the owner of the car.

© Yevhenii Orlov / Getty Images Pro

Put one end of the hose on the exhaust pipe, and keep the other close to the lock.

9. Naturally, if none of the methods worked out, then you have two choices, either wait for a warm time, or call a tow truck and take the car to a warm place.

© Minazitdinov / Getty Images

Not only the door locks freeze, but the doors themselves

We've dealt with locks. Let's say that you managed to open the lock, but the door could not be opened due to its freezing to the body.

1. As in the previous example, try to open all the doors.

2. This may sound trivial, but try pulling harder on the doors. But you should be careful not to break the handle or cause other damage to the car.

Try this method on all doors except the driver's, or even better, tug on the door that is least used.

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3. Try using a wooden or plastic lever to open the door. To do this, insert it into the gaps between the door and the body.

Be careful, because in addition to the damage mentioned above, you can also damage the metal part of the door or body. Despite this, this method may well help you.

4. Use special tools that will prevent the rubber door seals from freezing to the car body. It will help if all other methods have failed.

5. Again, a tow truck will come to the rescue if nothing worked and if there is money.

How to open a frozen lock? Prevention

It is better, of course, not to bring everything to the freezing of locks and doors, but to prepare in advance.

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Try to prepare in the fall:

Lock defroster;

Means from freezing of doors;

Winter grease for door hinges.

Do not forget to also treat locks, doors and hinges with special chemicals. This process should be repeated after the winter wash. Even if you haven't washed your car, it can't hurt to prevent it with the right products.

© Phantom1311 / Getty Images Pro

What to do if the castle is frozen?

Frozen central locking

As always, such a nuisance happens at the most inopportune moment: you are late for work, for an important meeting or at the station, and the frozen car doors completely refuse to let you inside the cabin. If you want to know what to do in this case, you can listen to our simple, but quite effective tips.

1. Try an alternative entry into the salon. First, try to open any other car door (including the luggage compartment) through which you can get inside.

Remember that frozen doors are easier and more convenient to open from the inside. If the doors from the inside also do not give in, then it will be useful to turn on the interior heater at full power and wait a bit until they thaw.

2. Use de-icing liquid wrench lubricant. To date, this is most likely the most popular way to open a frozen castle. "Liquid key" can be purchased at almost any store selling automotive chemicals and spare parts.

Just avoid one of the most common mistakes among short-sighted motorists: do not store de-icing fluid in the glove compartment of your car. In the colder months, a bottle of "liquid key" has a place on a garage shelf or in your everyday purse.

3. Try to melt the ice. If it is the larva of the lock that is frozen, then you can unlock it by inserting the key, previously heated in the open flame of a pocket lighter. By inserting a heated key several times into the keyhole, you will gradually melt the ice that has blocked the lock.

If it is possible to connect an electric hair dryer to the mains, then a jet of hot air directed to a frozen area will help you solve the problem effectively. You can also use rechargeable versions of a household or building hair dryer.

Some experienced motorists claim that they melt the ice quite easily by leaning their warm fingers against it for several minutes. Just do not try to solve the problem by pouring hot water on the lock or injecting hot water into it: it will not only quickly freeze on its own, but also increase the ice setting area of ​​the car door in the future.

4. Remove ice around the door. Using a special ice and snow scraper, gently beat off and remove the ice crust that has accumulated around the car door. If the scraper was recklessly forgotten inside the cabin, then any object with sufficiently thin and strong edges will do. Just try not to damage the paint on the body and the seal.

5. Use . A typical winter windshield washer can be used effectively to remove ice. The liquid should be carefully and slowly pour the frozen edges of the door, using any suitable bottle with a narrow spout for this. After a while, the door should open.

6. Heat up the door. As in the case of a frozen lock, you can melt the frozen edges of the doors with a jet of hot air emitted by any suitable electrical household appliance (hair dryer, fan heater, etc.). In this case, you should also not be too zealous so as not to damage the car paint layer.

It is not worth talking about the severity of Russian winters once again. Each driver has experienced the negative effect of negative temperatures on the car. One of the most common problems is that the doors in the car freeze. What to do in such cases and what you can use to avoid similar situations in the future, this article will open.

What to do if the car does not open

The reason for such an annoying situation is the moisture that gets on the seals. It can remain after if it was not dried well enough. Or arise due to condensate, which is formed during sudden changes in temperature (it is warm in the cabin, it is frosty outside). If you close the car during a heavy snowfall, then snow gets on the seals, it melts and turns into water, which later freezes and tightly glues the door. Water can also enter the lock and prevent it from opening.

Opening the lock

The method used by our grandfathers is to heat the key with an ordinary lighter. The heated key is inserted into the lock and attempts are made to turn it. Without fanaticism and effort, so as not to break off the key. Such actions are repeated several times.

For modern drivers, inventions have been invented that allow a more civilized way to open a frozen lock on a car door. For example, a keychain, which is called “automotive lock defroster”. This device works from batteries, has a retractable probe. It is inserted into the lock and heated, thereby defrosting the opening mechanism.

If you don’t have it at hand, you can pour alcohol or alcohol-containing liquids, vodka, non-freezing car fluid or a product that was created specifically to defrost the lock in a car into the key hole. The latter option is especially good, since the substance displaces frozen water from the keyhole, while covering the contact point with an oily film with a protective effect.

You should not make common mistakes that can lead to sad and irreparable consequences:

1. Use hot water.
2. Use force to turn the key.
3. Bring the lighter to the car door.

We open the door

Opening the lock is only half the problem. After all, often the door itself freezes to the body. In such a situation, two different paths can be taken. The fastest way is suitable for very busy and wealthy drivers. We pull the doors properly, without worrying about the state in which the seals will be after such actions. If this method is completely suitable for you, then choose the side in the car that is used the least. Torn seals on the driver's side will bring you a lot of inconvenience, and a draft can even damage your health. Do not rely on a guarantee - the rubber bands do not change under it. You will have to pay for this service yourself.

Thrifty, frugal and not in a hurry drivers should consider another option that will keep the rubber bands on the doors safe and sound. To do this, you will need to act according to the following algorithm:

1. Make sure the lock is functioning and in the open position.
2. Remove the layer of ice on the hood of the car, which may prevent the doors from opening. To do this, you can use a special scraper or a plastic object of a suitable shape. It is not worth it to show your power capabilities in order to preserve the paintwork of the car.
3. By lightly pressing and tapping on the corners of the door structure, try to destroy the layer of ice that has formed on the door seal. Do similar actions with each car door and even with the trunk in hatchbacks and station wagons.
4. If the previous actions did not lead to a positive result, then WD-40 or its equivalent will come to the rescue. The product of your choice is applied to the sealing gum, which after 10 minutes should soften and fall behind the body.

Doors cannot be opened with the help of a hand lever, use freshly boiled water (warm in the most extreme case).

Preventive action

So that all the above troubles do not upset you in winter, you need to prepare a car. To do this, you need to lubricate the lock with WD-40 or any other equivalent. This is easy to do - the lubricant is applied to the key, which is then inserted into the keyhole and scrolled with smooth movements. It is better to carry out this procedure at a positive temperature. Grease is also applied to the seals. For these purposes, it is good to use silicone-based products or, again, WD-40. In extreme cases, technical petroleum jelly is suitable, but its application in winter will have to be repeated several times.

These products should be applied carefully to prevent them from getting on the seats and clothes. Silicone has the property of displacing liquid from any surface to which it is applied. The agent in question forms a water-repellent film. Silicone grease can be applied to rubber bands even immediately after washing.

If you come across a good product, then just one lubricant can protect your car for a month or even until the end of the cold weather.

Since the cause of freezing of car doors is water, it must be constantly eliminated. Wipe seals thoroughly after each wash. Condensation can be avoided by leaving the machine open for 5 minutes before parking. During this time, the temperature in the cabin and on the street will become the same.

In order not to dance around your car in the future and tear off the rubber bands in the most ruthless way, think about purchasing special car care products. Lubrication of all adjacent elements is a mandatory step in the process of preparing a car for winter. Just in case, have on hand. Be sure to keep them outside of the car. And remember that for a conscientious and responsible driver, the doors do not freeze to the body.