ToolmanAR

It's 7 degrees here in Cleveland today, and the dreaded frozen door latch problem hit me hard. Door won't stay closed. I remedied the situation with a dose of WD-40 and my plumber's torch (just because it's easily portable), but I don't think that's a long-term solution. It took 2 slams to get it closed when I arrived at work. Who knows what it'll be like in 8 hours?

I STFA, but haven't found anything about a permanent fix for this. My working theory is that the OEM lube in there is too viscous and when it gets cold like this, it's too sticky and thick for the latch to work properly. I was thinking of hosing out the latch with brake cleaner to remove the old lubricant and use just WD-40 or even white lithium grease from now on.

Any thoughts? Anyone have a permanent solution?

Thanks.

s.carder

WD-40 (WD = Water Displacing) might be the answer as most greases turn to putty at those temps. your idea to flush everything out w/ brake cleaner (carb' cleaner, contact cleaner, etc.) sounds good. Do you have a place to get the car warm during this procedure? I think that would help a lot. Then just hit the latches weekly in the winter months.

shadyraven

I regularly wake to a dry -20'C and haven't had any trouble with the door locks.

ToolmanAR

I'm positive the cold is just turning the lube to some kind of slurry. I'll report back with my cleaning/relubing results tomorrow.

ar_in_maine

So weird..same for me this morning...in garage...3 F...sprayed some silicone and it loosened up.

rdar

One time last year I had the drivers door freeze up after a car wash in the single digit temps. only time this has happened and the first time I used that car wash.

Had the car washed Saturday with -0 temps and no issues. The place did a great job of drying the doors and blew air in the locks. Are the freeze ups happening after a car wash? Too much water sprayed into the door handles and locks?

03AR2rescu

White lithium is great stuff.

mayhem100

My wife's 02 A4 3.0Q's doors freeze shut like ther's no tomorrow. Not a latch problem, its a water drainage problem. We don't wash the cars between late Oct and April, but you get cycles of thawing and freezing. We've owned a dozen or so cars between us and neither of us has ever experienced anything like this freezing. I finally just soaked a rag in WD-40 and wiped down the entire perimeter of the door, car body and both gaskets whihc has helped, but I don't think its a permanent solution.

I have also noticed in the summer that the rear doors seem to pool up water wehn it rains, I have to be careful when I opent eh back doors because about a cup of water spills out onto the ground as soon as you break the seal...that just can't be right.

gbs_allroad

My '05 has done this every morning when overnight temps are below freezing. So far I have tried spraying WD-40 on the latch, but problem persists. Am I going to have to resort to dealer service?