Questions and Answers

Frozen Doors

Q. I went to a car wash and after that two of my car doors won't open. It is cold here so I think they got frozen or something. What can I do to get them open?

A. This is a common problem. The high pressure water pushes into places where water normally doesn't go.

Ideally the best thing to do is to put the car in a warm garage and let them melt open and dry out. If this is not possible, and the lock cylinder is frozen, you can use a lighter to heat the key and insert it into the lock. This will warm the lock enough to open. Of course it will probably freeze up again. It will keep freezing until the water inside dries out. You can buy lock de-icer at an auto parts store that will probably work as well.

If it's the door latch or door handle that's frozen, that's more difficult. Generally running the car with the heater on full will soak enough heat into the doors to defrost them. Parking the car in direct sunlight will also defrost the doors if it's not really cold out. You can get a graphite spray that you can shot into the door mechanism to prevent freeze ups in the future.