Door latches and cold weather

Park in a garage or in Florida? (Maybe global warming isn't such a bad thing after all).

Locks, or latches? How do I PREVENT this in the first place?

Ron/Champ 6

Lube the locks before it freezes to keep the moisture out.

--TW Of course, lube stiffens up so much at -40 that they get sticky.

Ron/Champ 6

I have had very good success with Dura-Lube spray lubricant and so have the people that I recommended this product to. It seems to work AND last!

You can also take the latch off and apart to clean and regrease it.

good luck! later, dave Reminder........ Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. Frieda Norris

funny I'm in Calgary and it's gets F'N frosty. My 02 is one of the best I've had re: door locks and mechanisms

How old is the car? Maybe there is a buildup of dirt, old lube and misc junk in the latch mechanism?

--TW

GAH! Adding insult to injury, I tried to roll the window down so I could hold the door shut, and it was frozen too. I think something stripped, as all I heard is a ratcheting sound. Now that it's warmer, the window goes down, but won't go up all the way, leaving a 1/4" gap at the top.

Stripped cable? How hard is that job? Where's the best place for a new one? (95 Passat, electric windows)

Ron/Champ 6

I had this problem on a 95 passat. Somewhere, I found an article, with pictures on how to solve it, but I can't find it now.

Here's a short description:

You want to completely fill the latch mechanism with white lithium grease. On the passat, there is a bronze-colored box inside a black plastic box on the trailing edge of the door. I completely removed this, and filled the space while it was off the car, but if you had a grease gun, it should be possible to fill it up by just removing the black plastic cover. I think there may even have been a small hole on the bottom that would work well. (probably supposed to be a drain hole)

When I had taken the latch apart, I found ice in the latch; actual blocks of ice formed right around the latch pieces. The grease prevents the water from getting in in the first place, and keeps the ice from gripping the metal parts if it does form.

Note: applying the grease will probably work best on a warm, dry, latch.

HTH, YMMV,

-TREE

Hurry up to the honda dealer. thats how you solve that problem.