In winter, a nuisance often occurs with cars - freezing locks. In the presence of this problem, the door does not open, and if it was possible to open it and get into the passenger compartment, then after that the closing mechanism does not work and the door cannot be slammed. What to do and which method to choose - read on.
The lighter is not your only assistant in this situation.
How to defrost car locks?
There are several ways to open a frozen door without causing damage to your vehicle. If you have a central locking, first try to open it with a key: it may not open from the alarm button due to a dead battery. Check if other doors open - you might be able to open one of them and the rest from the inside. If the key also does not open the lock, then you need to proceed with the following steps:
- If there is a slight frost outside, up to -2 degrees Celsius, then, perhaps, the doors are slightly frozen, and a lighter or matches will help to open the lock. It is enough to slightly warm the key and insert it into the lock, but do not use excessive force if the key still does not turn.
- If the frost is more severe (-10 ... -15 degrees), then a kettle with boiling water will help. With a quick spray of the lock, take a water-repellent silicone grease or WD40, insert the spray tube into the lock, and spread the lubricant inside it. If this is not done, the liquid will freeze inside the lock and you will not be able to open it again. The moisture-repellent liquid will clean the lock from water, and after 5-6 seconds it will open.
- If it is severe frost outside (-25… -30 degrees), then boiling water will not help. It makes sense to use a syringe filled with rubbing alcohol. Insert the mouth of the syringe into the lock and spray the alcohol inside. This substance will melt the ice and evaporate, clearing the ice build-up from the castle. You can use an anti-freeze to clean the windows of the car, but this method has disadvantages, since such liquids are diluted with water, and it is difficult to expel them from the lock.
- There are special “liquid key” aerosols that need to be sprayed into the lock.
What not to do
The following phenomena should be avoided when opening a frozen castle:
- Do not fill the lock with gasoline or other gasoline based flammable liquids.
- The key must not be turned by force. If you break it, the door cannot be opened at all.
What to do to keep the locks from freezing in the car
Preventive measures are required to prevent locks from freezing again.
First of all, make sure that there is no moisture in the lock. Before use, you need to wipe the key to keep it dry, and lubricate the keyhole itself with a water-repellent silicone grease. If the door seals are frozen, you can defrost them with a hair dryer. It is undesirable to water with boiling water, as the rubber parts may crack; it is recommended to lubricate them with a special anti-icing lubricant.
You can lubricate the keyholes with WD40, there will be no harm if you also lubricate the inside of the lock, which slams the door.
On a note
1.If there is no alcohol or special liquids on hand to defrost the machine, use WD40 or a glass cleaner from ice. However, it is better not to use such a tool for a central lock, as it will damage the lock.
2.If the locks are frozen, do not rush to disassemble them. A household hairdryer is suitable for heating and drying.
3. Locks are often treated not only with special agents, but also with glycerin.
4. A silicone-based spray helps a lot: it can both defrost locks and prevent them from freezing. To increase the effectiveness of such a spray, you will need to add graphite dust to it. To do this, use a simple pencil, only the dust should be fine, so as not to clog the lock with dirt inside.
5. Before manipulating the lock, carefully examine the larva: it may be covered with ice. Such ice is chipped off with a screwdriver or knife. In rare cases, the ignition lock freezes. In this case, use the same WD40 and a hair dryer, which will help defrost the lock.
6. You can also gently heat the structure of the lock, but this should be done slowly so as not to damage the plastic. The ignition switch contains contacts that can ignite, so the use of open fire in this case is unacceptable.
Possible difficulties
Some difficulties can arise with locks. If you defrost the lock, and the key still does not turn, or the lock seems to open, but the door still cannot be opened, then, most likely, the rubber band of the door has frozen to the body. With a little effort, such a door can be opened, but you should not pull the lock handle. It is required to carefully pry the door with the same screwdriver or a narrow piece of wood so as not to damage the varnish. The lock may not close: this is due to the ingress of moisture on the internal mechanism. If you manage to open the door, lubricate the hinge and the closing mechanism of the lock with silicone grease. It will not hurt to grease and rubber bands on the doors.
A kettle with hot water does not help in all cases, because the locks can freeze from the inside. Then it is better to use a syringe filled with alcohol or hot water. You cannot use boiling water, otherwise the syringe will melt.
Another surprise may be frozen buttons that open the lock from the inside. If you managed to open at least one door, you will need to turn on the stove in the car, and after 10 minutes the locks will open, but do not wait until they freeze again. Lubricate them with a moisture-proof lubricant.
Find out how the professionals beat the ice on the doors
Conclusion
With proper preventive maintenance, car locks will not let you down at an unexpected moment and you will not have problems with them in the winter. If the castle is still frozen, be patient and deal with it as described above, avoid using hot water, as it freezes again. Do not use brute force as there is a risk of tearing off the door handle.
The arrival of winter always brings additional problems to all motorists who do not have the opportunity to put their car in a warm parking lot or in a heated garage. And one of them is the frozen locks in the car doors. Fighting with which just when you need to go urgently can ruin the mood for the whole day.
The most correct solution, allowing you not to think about how to defrost the car door lock, is to carry out preventive measures. Their correct and timely implementation allows you to solve the problem even at the stage of the likelihood of its occurrence. This means avoiding unnecessary stress and time consuming.
Preventive measures to prevent freezing of the lock and gum of the car doors
In order to exclude the occurrence of such a situation when, after a frosty night, the key is not inserted into the car door lock, or the door sealing gum is frozen, the following preventive actions must be regularly performed:
- After the end of the trip, when parking the car, you should drop one or two drops of engine oil or brake fluid on the part of the key that is inserted into the lock. The oiled key must be inserted into the keyhole and turned there several times.
- It is best to purchase a special WD-40 fluid, which is ideal for lubricating the lock, as well as for defrosting it, if you still forgot to lubricate and it is frozen. At the same time, this liquid should not be stored in the glove compartment of your car, as the manufacturers recommend, but in your pocket. So that she is always at hand.
- If a closing cap is installed on the neck of the gas tank, then the same operation should be done with its lock as recommended above for door locks. Otherwise, it is possible to be without gasoline due to the impossibility of pouring it into the gas tank.
- The following types of grease are used to lubricate door seals:
- silicone, with which any sponge is impregnated, and with its help all the seals are rubbed to a shine;
- ordinary glycerin, which is sold in every pharmacy;
- almost any baby cream;
- solid oil, although with its excellent properties that allow protecting rubber from freezing, it also has negative properties - it gets very dirty.
After a major car wash, start the engine, start the stove at full power and open all the doors and trunk wide open. In this form, the machine must stand for some time so that it can freeze all the moisture remaining after washing on the seals and in the cavity of the locks.
After this time, you should open and close the doors several times and turn all the locks several times. The resulting ice from mechanical impact will certainly crumble and fall off. That will eliminate the appearance of problems the next morning.
Also, a very good effect can be achieved as a result of blowing the door seals and the cavity of the locks. It can be done with a compressor used to inflate the tires. After such a purge, as well as after freezing, all seals must be thoroughly lubricated using the means listed above.
If everything that we talked about above was not done, and in the morning there was still a problem with opening the car doors, then you should resort to the methods that have been developed over the years.
- You can heat the key with the flame of a lighter and, in this state, insert it into the door lock. After the whole interior of the castle has been warmed up with it, you can try to open the lock. If nothing happens, then you should repeat this procedure as many times as necessary in order for the ice inside the castle to melt.
- If you do not have a lighter or any other heating devices at hand, but you can open the hood, then you need to do this and dip the key into the brake fluid or anti-freeze, which is poured into the washer reservoir. Try to insert the moistened key into the keyhole several times and, after dissolving the ice, turn it several times.
- If the car is parked near the house, which has an extension cord of the appropriate length and a hair dryer, then the problem can be solved in just a few minutes.
- From the school chemistry course, many know that when alcohol reacts with water, heat is released. This means that it is enough to inject some of it through the keyhole into the cavity of the lock, where it will react with ice, and the elements will heat up, which will allow you to easily open the car door.
- To warm up the car lock, you can use the exhaust gases of another car, if, of course, its owner has no objections. To perform this operation, you need a specific hose size that fits over the exhaust pipe. Accordingly, the second end of the hose is brought to the lock and the warm air does its job quickly enough.
- You can solve this problem in an ultramodern way. To do this, it is enough to purchase a special key fob in a car shop, which everyone calls a “lock defroster”. This keychain has a long and thin probe, which, powered by ordinary batteries, heats up to 200 ° C. It is simply inserted into the keyhole opening, due to which the internal parts of the lock are defrosted.
Sometimes there is such a situation that the lock has successfully warmed up, the key in it has turned, but the door still does not open. Here you need to understand that the seals frozen to the body of the car interfere with the opening of the door. In this case, it is categorically impossible to tear the door towards yourself, which is strength, since this may damage the seals.
In this case, you should try to push hard on the door in several places and even knock on them. However, this must be done without using any heavy tools in order to avoid damaging the door surface. As a rule, after several attempts, the door gives way.
What absolutely should not be done
Firstly, under no circumstances should the lock and the door itself be poured with boiling water. The consequence of this can be the peeling of the paint and turning it into tatters. In addition, hot water will penetrate into all the free spaces available on the seals, as a result of which it can be quite difficult to get out of the car after it freezes.
Secondly, you should never try to heat a castle larva with your breath. If it comes into contact with the frozen metal from warm and very humid air, ice plugs are formed, which are difficult to melt.
Thirdly, in no case should you use liquids that contain kerosene. Under their influence, the castle will of course open, but very soon it will freeze again, since kerosene tends to absorb moisture from the air around it.
In conclusion, I would like to say that, of course, all the methods we have listed are quite effective and will help solve the problem that has arisen with the opening of locks. But why torture yourself like that when it is enough to simply install a central lock on the car, which will be opened thanks to a radio command coming from.
After washing your car in winter, there may be some problems. One of them is the freezing of car doors. If your doors are frozen, then you should not rush and do any meaningless actions, which in most cases only worsen the situation. For example, if you are carried somewhere far from civilization, you got out of the car, the castle is frozen, and there is no way to open it. For such cases, you can take a snowmobile with you (just put the keys to it in your pocket in advance!). To transport it, you will be served by a trailer for transporting a snowmobile.
But let's still figure out how to open the door if it is frozen?
We will now look at several ways to open frozen doors.
1. This method can be called old-fashioned. It was used since the appearance of the first cars. We just need to heat the door lock key with a lighter and insert it into the lock cylinder. Then rotate the key to the right and then to the left. You need to repeat the procedure several times. As a result, the lock will freeze, and you can freely open the door of your car.
2. The second method can be called modern. Now in many car dealerships special key chains are sold, which are called "lock defrosters". The essence of the device is as follows. There is a small long probe in the keychain, which heats up to 150 - 200 C, after which you insert it into the lock cylinder, thereby defrosting the lock. Such a device works on ordinary batteries and costs about 500 rubles.
During the operation of the car, unpredictable circumstances may arise, especially in winter, for example, an accident. If this happened, and your car is not insured in OSAGO, then no one will compensate you for the damage. calculate the OSAGO calculator in order to know how much your car insurance will cost you.
3. Pour vodka, alcohol, antifreeze and similar substances into the lock cylinder using a syringe. What is the essence of it? And the bottom line is that these substances react with frozen water and after a while displace the water outside. A protective oil film remains in the area of the lock cylinder. Also, to defrost the lock in this way, you can use special defrosting agents such as Hi-Gear, WD-40 and others.
4. You can also use a regular hair dryer to defrost the lock. This method is bad because if you are far from the outlet, you will not be able to defrost the door.
I would like to say what not to do when defrosting the castle larva:
1. Never spray doors with hot water. This can only worsen the situation. You can also damage the paintwork of the car.
2. Do not try to force open the lock. Often in such cases, people simply break the key to open the door, which brings additional inconvenience.
3. Do not try to defrost the lock with a lighter. You will only heat the outside of the larva, and the frozen water will be in the middle, so it will be.
A frosty winter is a serious challenge for a car, especially if it sleeps in an unheated garage or on the street. The vehicle needs special care at this time of year, otherwise it will be more of a hassle than a benefit. One of the most common winter problems is freezing door locks and seals. Drivers who are in trouble should know the correct algorithm of actions so as not to cause additional damage to the car. And if you do not forget about preventive measures, then winter will pass without such incidents at all.
Causes of freezing car doors
The doors are blocked due to freezing of water that has got into the lock and on the seals. She can penetrate them for the following reasons:
- poor-quality car drying in a car wash;
- condensation formed due to the temperature difference in the cabin and on the street;
- a sharp drop in air temperature after rain;
- temperature jumps when thaws are replaced by severe frosts;
- getting on the compactors of snow, which first melts under the influence of heat from the passenger compartment, and then freezes.
Therefore, in winter, the seals should be thoroughly wiped off after washing, as well as opening doors in rain or snow.
And to prevent condensation, leave the doors open for a few minutes before closing them completely. This will allow the temperature in the cabin to approach the outdoor temperature.
If the castle is frozen
When the castle freezes, the main thing is not to aggravate the situation with the wrong actions that first come to mind. It is categorically impossible:
- try to turn the key in the lock by force, risking breaking it off and disrupting the design of the lock;
- pour boiling water on the lock, as the paint on the door will crack from it;
- breathe on the lock, because this will only increase the amount of moisture in it.
Also, do not resort to the very common but ineffective advice - heating the key with a lighter. In severe frost, the key will cool down even before you have time to put it in the lock. From such actions, you would rather freeze yourself than defrost the castle.
As an alternative to lighters, it is better to use a specialized defrost keychain... The device is equipped with a retractable pin that must be inserted into the keyhole. 
When pulled out, it automatically heats up to a temperature of about 150 degrees, and the ice in the lock melts in a matter of seconds. The keychain is powered by AAA batteries, the charge of which is enough for about 10 defrosting. A similar device costs about 500 rubles.
In the absence of such a defroster, you can use the tools at hand by analogy. An extended hairpin or tie clip is suitable for these purposes. Insert them into the lock with one end, and heat the other with a lighter. Just do not scorch the paintwork of the door, it is better to protect the area around the lock from fire with ordinary foil.
Defrosting liquids for locks, which must be poured into a frozen keyhole, show no less efficiency. 
Preference should be given to the form of a spray, since such products show the best performance, ridding the lock of ice within 10-15 seconds. Another advantage of defrosting liquids is their budgetary cost, which starts at 30 rubles.
Special products have a defrosting effect due to the presence of alcohols in the composition. Therefore, in case of emergency, you can pour any alcohol-containing liquid into the castle. Just do not transfer perfume to this business, since the concentration of alcohol in them is too low for a defrosting effect.
Actions in case of freezing of seals
If you managed to turn the key in the lock, but the door still does not give in, it means that the rubber seals also froze. 
It is not worth pulling on the door with force, unless you are late for the plane or have extra finances to replace damaged seals. Warranty service does not apply to this type of repair.
When pulling out doors by force, it is better to do this on the rear passenger door. So it will be possible to drive for some time with damaged seals, which you can try to glue and not use again. After entering the passenger compartment, the remaining doors can be warmed up with a stove.
For those who are not ready for barbaric methods, a more gentle and lengthy procedure is suitable. It consists in the following:
- Leave the lock open.
- Remove frost from the door and surrounding area. To do this, use a special scraper or any plastic object of a similar shape. Scrape off the ice carefully so as not to damage the paintwork.
- Knock lightly on the door, walking around its entire perimeter.
- Push down on the door.
Such actions may be enough to break the ice on the seals. If the trunk is not locked, you can additionally close it forcefully several times. If not successful, coat the door edges and seals with an alcohol-based liquid or water-repellent grease such as WD-40.
Problem prevention
In order not to have to face the above problems, it is necessary to prepare the car doors for winter in advance. First of all, inspect all seals for cracks, and also clean them of dirt. Dirt and debris in the seals interferes with their sealing, allowing water to enter the doors.
Next, you need to protect the seals with grease. A multipurpose silicone grease with good water repellency can be used. 
The composition just needs to be applied to the rubber door elements and wait for it to dry completely. As a result, a strong elastic film is formed on them. It not only protects the seals from freezing, but also extends their service life. It is worth treating the door lock with the same lubricant, applying a small amount to the key and turning it in the well.
The ideal protection of the car from winter freezing is a garage or a heated parking lot. But not all car owners have the opportunity to leave their vehicle in such conditions. If it is necessary to put the car in the cold outside, there is a need to provide it with additional care. Timely preventive measures to protect car doors from freezing will help to avoid a lot of inconveniences during the onset of cold weather.
Due to severe frosts, a lot of problems with the car can arise, related to the engine, battery, pads, door lock ... Thank God, there are such troubles. But how to defrost the car lock or its doors so as not to cause any damage to the car? This will be discussed further.
Most often, drivers are faced with the problem of "freezing" after the car has spent the whole night in the cold. It just won't start, no matter how hard you try. The reason for this is a decrease in battery power at low air temperatures. The consequence is the inability of the battery to turn the starter at a sufficient speed. Therefore, when you turn the ignition key, the engine will not start.
How to avoid freezing the battery
If your car's engine increasingly does not want to start in the cold, you should seriously think about a garage. By driving your car into a brick garage overnight, you will forget about such a problem. If you do not have this opportunity, start thoroughly warming up your car overnight. Then it will be more or less normal to start up in the morning.
There is another way- remove the battery and bring it to a warm room at night, and reinstall it in the morning. Of course, this method is quite time consuming, but it will allow you to easily start the car engine. Remember, this method should only be used if you know how to remove and install the battery correctly.
You can also turn on the low beam for ten to fifteen seconds to warm up the electrolyte in the battery. Then the car should start, but this only helps when the frost is not too severe. Another option is to wrap the battery in a warm cloth and leave it there overnight. Thanks to this trick, the unit will not freeze so much and will allow the engine to start.
Video about using the battery in winter:
Important nuances
It is very important to consider some points when "defrosting" the car. When trying to start the car, you cannot turn the starter for a long time. It takes 10 seconds to understand if the engine will start. It is not worth delaying this process, because, firstly, it is harmful to the car, and secondly, it is useless. Those who have "mechanics" are recommended to start the engine with the clutch depressed. This will greatly facilitate the work of the starter. If the engine can be started, do not rush to release the pedal - do it as slowly as possible.
In cases where the engine won't start, give your car a rest, no need to torment it. Please try again after a few minutes. If all else fails, the car needs to be towed to the garage, because it simply cannot work at low temperatures. Please note that the car may not refuse to start because of the battery. For example, the reason may lie in polluted or broken ones. Or in mineral engine oil, which freezes in extreme cold. One more tip - do not put the car on the handbrake in winter, otherwise the pads will freeze.
Defrosting the door lock
If the lock on the car door is frozen, there are several ways to solve this problem. Remember that it is very important not to use force, as in extreme cold, plastic and metal are more fragile and can be broken. To begin with, calm down and try to soberly assess the situation. Decide how to defrost the vehicle, taking into account the air temperature.
Determine what the weather is like outside. If the frost is not strong, you can warm it up by simply putting your hand on it for a few minutes. To prevent your hand from getting frozen to the car, use a thin cloth. The castle will warm up pretty quickly.
What to do in severe frost
If the frost is severe, then you should use matches or a lighter. Use them to heat the key, then insert it into the lock... This will warm it up from the inside. Repeat the procedure several times, then try to turn the key. If there are no matches, you can ask a neighbor from his car.
Another option suitable for severe frosts is to use alcohol. As a last resort, you can take vodka. Pour liquid into the lock using a syringe. You can pour hot water into a plastic bottle and attach it to the door lock. You cannot pour boiling water on the door!
Special means for defrosting
Now specialized stores sell products intended for defrosting car locks. Such liquids allow you to quickly warm up the locks. Your best bet is to buy WD-40 grease - it also dries up excess moisture.
If the door won't open
It may happen that despite defrosting the locks, the car door will not open. This means that the seal is frozen. How to defrost a car door in such a situation?
First of all, you do not need to pull the door under any circumstances, as this can break the seal. Better to push the door from the outside at several points. Then the ice that has formed under the compactor will crack. The door will eventually open.
Before starting the engine
If you managed to defrost your car, do not rush to get under way right away. Before starting the motor, free the brushes and check if there is ice on them. This must be done because when starting the engine, you can inadvertently touch the lever by turning on the wipers. This can result in a short circuit and blown fuse (or brush motor).
In order for the engine to warm up as quickly as possible, you do not need to turn on the stove. Remove snow from the bonnet. It is not worth removing from the roof while the frost is severe. When the snow starts to melt, you can save on.
If suddenly the glass does not go down or the mirror is not adjusted, do not panic. When the cabin warms up, everything will work. If it doesn't work, don't worry either. The oil will heat up, and the automatic transmission will return to normal.
Preparing the car for parking
In order to prevent the car from freezing while parked, follow a few simple rules. Having arrived at the required place, turn off the stove in advance and open all the windows. Let the car stand in the parking lot with the doors open to completely cool down inside. Shake off snow and moisture from rugs immediately.
Glasses should not be tightly closed. Leaving a small gap of one to two millimeters, you allow excess moisture to escape from the cabin. Then ice will not form on the windows of the car. Don't worry about safety - such tiny cracks won't be visible from the outside of the car.
We warm up the glass washer reservoir
Finally, we will tell you how to warm up the windscreen washer reservoir. Freezing is also a common problem. Here are some professional recommendations:
- If the ice has not completely filled the cavity of the tank, you can fill it with warm defrosting liquid, vodka or alcohol (proportion 1: 3 or 1: 5).
- If the liquid in the tank runs out during the trip, you can fill it with a mixture of cold water and cheap vodka (then the washer will not freeze).
- If the ice has filled the entire cavity, you can drill a hole in the ice and fill it with a special liquid, or put the car in a covered parking lot (it is advisable to start it during the defrosting process).
- Insert the boiler into the tank, partially immersing it in melted water ("drown" it in ice with short-term inclusions).
- Warm up the interior in order to achieve evaporation of the liquid.
Video on how to defrost a car:
As you can see, there are many ways to safely "defrost" a car and its parts. However, we advise everyone who does not want to waste their time on such procedures in the morning to pre-treat the gum seals and locks with WD grease. Then you can easily open your car. Better yet, take care of a warm garage for your "iron horse". This will avoid many unnecessary problems.
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