How to open frozen doors?

The terrible frosts of recent days have presented many drivers with the unpleasant task of defrosting their car doors. website offer small step-by-step instructions that will help a person open his car.

For determined people who are in a hurry, the problem can be solved in one movement: you just need to pull the door as hard as possible. So if you yourself and your rhythm of life are in the above category, then you can, in general, not read everything that follows - you still won’t read it “by the instructions”. The only thing I can give here is one...

…advice: if you tear off the door, then it is best not the driver's door, but the passenger one, and even better, the one that is used least often - for example, the rear left one (if it is not frozen and the central locking works). Go through it to the driver’s seat and warm up the other doors with a “stove”.

The point here is that with such violence against a frozen door, rubber seals are often torn off and torn, which even on a car under warranty will have to be changed only at your own expense. And since the driver’s door is used most often, the torn seal will soon lose its presentation, water will leak through the torn fragments, and snow will accumulate. And you will immediately have to go for repairs, otherwise the ride will be very uncomfortable.

The other door, especially the rear left one, can be carefully closed by tucking in the torn rubber bands, sealing the damage with household products, and then drive for some time, considering the date and budget for repairs.

In general, when opening frozen doors, the main task is to maintain the integrity of the rubber seals.

How can it be solved?

How to open locks?

If the locks open and are not frozen, then to save personal time you can go straight to the “Second approach” item. If the locks are still frozen, read on.

By the way: Frozen locks will have to be opened in any case - whether you are going to open the door with a jerk or tear it off or carefully separate it from the frame.

Advice: Before the onset of cold weather, you should definitely stock up on a product from the “Lock defroster” group. The price is from 50 rubles, but it helps a lot.

If there is no defrost, then you can try some of the available means - antifreeze liquid from the washer reservoir, as well as any “household” alcohol-containing composition, even cologne. It can be poured, say, into a plastic bottle “with a spout” from some pharmaceutical drops, and then injected into the keyhole. After about two minutes you can try turning the key.

Attention: If the key does not turn, under no circumstances should you apply great force! Otherwise, you can break both the key and the lock. Therefore, if you can’t twist it, we continue to defrost it.

How to open the doors?

So, the lock is open (or the locks were opened initially), now we proceed to open the door.

Advice: Even if you open it carefully, it’s still better not the driver’s door, but the other door. (That’s why, by the way, you need to defrost the passenger door lock).

Step 1: We clean the perimeter of the door where the frame meets the opening. To do this, it is convenient to use a thin flat scraper or, if you don’t have one, some kind of handy “plastic”, for example, a plastic stationery ruler. Be careful: when clearing glaciation, you do not need to scrub with all your might! Proceed carefully, trying not to damage, first of all, the paint and the seals themselves.

Step 2: You can try to pull the door lightly. Has it opened? Hooray! If it doesn’t open, then there are two options. The first one is to tear it off, the second one is to move on to “Step 3” - to freeze it off.

Step 3: After cleaning the perimeter of the door where the frame adjoins the opening, you can treat it with the same anti-freezing windshield washer fluid, pouring it in a small stream, for example, from some plastic shampoo bottle.

The final: Let's open the door! Still doesn't work? Then we continue to defrost, but we end up freezing ourselves. If we don’t want a cold, then we pull a little harder and get into the car and turn on the heater.

Do not be afraid: After correctly performing the above-described manipulations, the risk of breaking the door seal will be minimal.

Prevention will help

And so that we don’t have to “dance with a tambourine around the car or tear open the door as hard as we can, before the frosts we stock up in advance on inexpensive, but great things that make life easier:

1. Product for protecting locks and hinges from freezing - from 50 rubles.

2. Anti-freezing agent for door and trunk seals - from 100 rubles.

3. Universal silicone grease (frost-resistant) - from 100 rubles.