JetLi
February 5th, 2009, 09:14 AM
Hi everyone, I couldn't figure out the right section to post this under, so if someone needs to move it, please feel free to move it around.
I've run into a problem with my gf's 2003 Sunfire car locks. (she doesn't have power locks and was expensive to replace, so I'm not going to do that) I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on what I can do to help her out, short of replacing the car.
So the history is that she's always had problems with the car locks, she used to live downtown and parked on the street, so the car doors frequently froze shut and tight. The last 2 years, I was able to resolve this issue with some silicone grease on the rubber gaskets around the door, about 2 times each winter. The door locks also froze on a regular basis, I treated this with rubbing our a pencil on the car key a few times and inserting and turning it a few times, and then applying once a day for a week of Lock Deicer with Teflon, and again, once every 4-6 weeks there after through out the winter.
Yesterday, her locks froze again. She tried the lock deicer, and used one of the Eddie Bauer battery operated key hole heaters for about 10 minutes and finally gave up and took my car to work, and I spent 30 minutes working on her car locks. I tried a hair dryer for about 10 minutes to a lock, multiple uses of the lock deicer, still no luck, I finally got her trunk to pop and crawled through it (her dinky little 2 door Sunfire) and almost broke my finger trying to unlock the door from the inside. It was so tight (and my hands were so cold by then) that pulling the little lock switch inside the car took several attempts. I finally set up a catalytic heater in the car on the passenger door and ran inside. After 15 minutes, I went out and tried the locks again (it was unlocked and I opened the door to try turning the key and I still couldn't. Long story short, I spent about 45 minutes with lock deicers and various heat sources trying to loose the damn things and I couldn't.
I would take it to the dealership, but I'm afraid they will tell me to get new doors or something stupid like that. Any ideas how to loosen these damn locks and keep them from freezing again?
I've run into a problem with my gf's 2003 Sunfire car locks. (she doesn't have power locks and was expensive to replace, so I'm not going to do that) I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on what I can do to help her out, short of replacing the car.
So the history is that she's always had problems with the car locks, she used to live downtown and parked on the street, so the car doors frequently froze shut and tight. The last 2 years, I was able to resolve this issue with some silicone grease on the rubber gaskets around the door, about 2 times each winter. The door locks also froze on a regular basis, I treated this with rubbing our a pencil on the car key a few times and inserting and turning it a few times, and then applying once a day for a week of Lock Deicer with Teflon, and again, once every 4-6 weeks there after through out the winter.
Yesterday, her locks froze again. She tried the lock deicer, and used one of the Eddie Bauer battery operated key hole heaters for about 10 minutes and finally gave up and took my car to work, and I spent 30 minutes working on her car locks. I tried a hair dryer for about 10 minutes to a lock, multiple uses of the lock deicer, still no luck, I finally got her trunk to pop and crawled through it (her dinky little 2 door Sunfire) and almost broke my finger trying to unlock the door from the inside. It was so tight (and my hands were so cold by then) that pulling the little lock switch inside the car took several attempts. I finally set up a catalytic heater in the car on the passenger door and ran inside. After 15 minutes, I went out and tried the locks again (it was unlocked and I opened the door to try turning the key and I still couldn't. Long story short, I spent about 45 minutes with lock deicers and various heat sources trying to loose the damn things and I couldn't.
I would take it to the dealership, but I'm afraid they will tell me to get new doors or something stupid like that. Any ideas how to loosen these damn locks and keep them from freezing again?