Door Seals Frozen!

[Blue84]

Hi All

Went out to my Yaris 45 mins ago and it unlocks, but the door seals are frozen against the body so neither doors or the boot will open. I'm meant to start work in 30 mins but not left home yet. Trains are delayed and buses not out here yet.

Anyone else suffered from this little "quirk"? on their Yaris? I'm gonna leave it a little while and hope that it loosens a bit so I can get in and try to drive.

Tina

[alfiejts]

I suspect these repeated "freeze/thaw" cycles will affect many cars as the seals will get wet and then freeze again....

I'd just use some deicer around the door to try and loosen it....

Just be thankful that you have central locking - us oldies will remember hours of trying to un-freeze the door locks so that we could actually unlock the car each day......

They used to have to sell specialist lock deicer sprays and you could buy electrically heated "keys" to stick into the lock to unfreeze it....

Just think of the poor souls in Canada and elsewhere who have whole winters full of this weather every year...

As a suggestion, once you do get it open, use a cloth of some sorts to wipe dry the rubber seals and the metal they seal to when you get out of the car to reduce the risk of them refreezing....

I noticed moisture on our boot seals last weekend and took the opportunity to wipe all the seal areas dry whilst the sun was out....

There are also "pre-icer" sprays available that you spray on the night before to prevent freezing. It might help to spray some of this onto the door seals to help prevent freezing - although with these current very low temperatures, even that might not help and might still freeze... You'd have to check the minimum temperatures it says on the bottle before you use it to make sure it still works at the extreme cold temps we're experiencing at the moment...

You can't really blame the poor Yaris - even our road salt/grit is only designed to work down to -6c and South Manchester hit -16c at 7am this morning!

I saw that "normal" Tescos winter screen wsh is designed for use down to -2c and their "extreme" weather screenwash down to -6c. So again - these very cold temps of -10 ito -16 are much colder than anyone has designed for and we are going to see some unexpected effects.

[Madasafish]

When you get a chance, dry the seals. and gently rub a candle over them. So when water freezes them up again, they will not stick.. mating surfaces

(I garage my car so not really an issue but I used to do this and it worked and it's cheap)

[Jamesbelfast]

When you get a chance, dry the seals. and gently rub a candle over them. So when water freezes them up again, they will not stick.. mating surfaces

(I garage my car so not really an issue but I used to do this and it worked and it's cheap)

Excellent suggestion.:)

A spray with a household polish which comtains silicon also works.:_

[GIDDLEPIN]

CLICKY

DON'T USE VASELINE..........It degrades the rubber :shutit:

[z-tune-z2]

Would a hairdryer be a bad idea?

[Bos]

Would a hairdryer be a bad idea?

It depends how long you hair is :D

[BALIKBAYAN]

Here in Sweden there are a kind of silicone stick you smear the door seals during the autumn just to prevent it to freeze during the winter.

[Raeman]

Mine did it this morning, i could have literally pulled the handle off trying to open the door!

The boot aswell (Where i keep a can of de-icer,typical) was frozen solid aswell, but luckily i had a spare can in my garage.

Eventually it came good and opened but the boot was frozen shut all day today.

I went out before and applied some axle (all purpose) grease allround the door rubber seals, i did this last year and it worked ok, i will find out tommorow morning though!

Oh and the worst froze bit was my rear windscreen wiper, literally welded to the window.

Just one more reason why i absolutely HATE this damn winter! :ffs:

[GIDDLEPIN]

Mine did it this morning, i could have literally pulled the handle off trying to open the door!

The boot aswell (Where i keep a can of de-icer,typical) was frozen solid aswell, but luckily i had a spare can in my garage.

Eventually it came good and opened but the boot was frozen shut all day today.

I went out before and applied some axle (all purpose) grease allround the door rubber seals, i did this last year and it worked ok, i will find out tommorow morning though!

Oh and the worst froze bit was my rear windscreen wiper, literally welded to the window.

Just one more reason why i absolutely HATE this damn winter! :ffs:

Like Vaseline axle grease or any kind of petroleum based grease WILL perish rubber seals

[Thermal]

Hi,

Once you get it open again, have some old fashioned talc powder ready.

You know, the stuff mothers used to smear on their baby's butts. :)

Available in grocery/drug stores and while you are there, ask for some glycerin.

Mix some glycerin and talcon powder and apply that to all rubber seals.

Works the whole winter.

Any winter !

[BALIKBAYAN]

It might be wise to lift the wipers from the windows when parking the car. Just to prevent them to get stuck on the windows.

And of course mix 1 part concentrated screen antifreeze with 1 part water to the windscreen washer bottle. If you have this mix it will not freeze.

[gramps]

It might be wise to lift the wipers from the windows when parking the car. Just to prevent them to get stuck on the windows.

And of course mix 1 part concentrated screen antifreeze with 1 part water to the windscreen washer bottle. If you have this mix it will not freeze.

For door seals- There's a spray polish (really designed for the interior plastic on cars) called "Back to Black" contains lots of silicone and will stop door seals freezing and sticking if sprayed on before winter or when seals are really dry. (I also use it for sticking wooden doors and windows in the house)

[BALIKBAYAN]

No, not for door seals, but raeman also mentioned that his wipers for frosen to the window earlier in this thread. I have already mentioned that silicone stuff for door seals earlier.

[HowardL]

CLICKY

DON'T USE VASELINE..........It degrades the rubber :!Removed!:

But door seals are made of neoprene...a synthetic rubber..so ok

[Richard Davies]

Yesterday I used my car for the 1st time in a few days & had to remove lots of snow & ice. The ice was built up very thickly on the windscreen, but came off after running the blowers for a while & plenty of de-icer

The doors hadn't frozen up as I feared, especially as the de-icer was inside.

I have problems with the wipers sticking to the screen, & have wondered what I can do to stop this from happening.

[Raeman]

Well i got in my Yaris on Friday morning, the door's opened straight away without fuss! Good old grease on the door seals did the trick! Coldest i have ever known though.....The temperature display in the car was at -10, and i had ice on the inside of the screen! :o

Just what you don't need when running late!

Stopping the wipers freezing to the windows? Either lift them and leave them up all night or maybe put some cardboard under them?

[GIDDLEPIN]

CLICKY

DON'T USE VASELINE..........It degrades the rubber :shutit:

But door seals are made of neoprene...a synthetic rubber..so ok

If you say so ;)

EPDM Rubber

EPDM rubber (ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber) is an elastomer which is characterized by wide range of applications. The diene(s) currently used in the manufacture of EPDM rubbers are DCPD (dicyclopentadiene), ENB (ethylidene norbornene) and VNB (vinyl norbornene).

EPDM rubber is used in vibrators and seals; glass-run channel; radiator, garden and appliance hose; tubing; washers; belts; and electrical insulation. It is also used as a medium for water resistance in high-voltage polymeric cable jointing installations, roofing membrane, geomembranes, rubber mechanical goods, plastic impact modification, thermoplastic, vulcanizates, as a motor oil additive, pond liner, electrical cable-jointing and chainmail applications.

EPDM exhibits satisfactory compatibility with fireproof hydraulic fluids, ketones, hot and cold water, and alkalis, and unsatisfactory compatibility with most oils, gasoline, kerosene, aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons, halogenated solvents, and concentrated acids.

Typical properties of EPDM vulcanisates are given below. EPDM can be compounded to meet specific properties to a limit depending first on the EPDM polymers available, then the processing and curing method(s) employed. EPDMs are available in a range of molecular weights (indicated in terms of Mooney viscosity ML(1+4)@125°C), varying levels of ethylene, third monomer and oil content.

Common Application

EPDM rubber is commonly used in weatherseals on all vehicles. This includes door seals, window seals, trunk seals, and sometimes hood seals. Frequently these seals are the source of noise due to movement of the door versus the car body. This is due to friction between the EPDM rubber and the mating surface (car painted sheet metal or glass). This can be alleviated using specialty coatings that are applied at the time of manufacture of the weatherseal, not as an aftermarket application. Such coatings can also greatly increase the chemical resistance of EPDM rubber. Some vehicle manufacturers such as General Motors also recommend a light application of silicone dielectric grease to weatherstripping to reduce noise.

So, if this is wrong you won't have a problem using oil based products on your door seals and they won't degrade.

[Raeman]

Surely the use of grease on door seals for say 2 days per year will do them no harm??

Now if you were to apply loads of the stuff daily to rubber seals, then you could have an issue with them degrading and that would be understandable.

[GIDDLEPIN]

I only put the technical information there for advice, it comes from people who know a damn site more than me on the matter and if you want to use something not recommended then it is as always a personal choice, I know for a fact that there is no way at all that an oil based material will come into contact with my seals and anyone using it does so at their own risk.

[Red Yaris 54]

Surely the use of grease on door seals for say 2 days per year will do them no harm??

Now if you were to apply loads of the stuff daily to rubber seals, then you could have an issue with them degrading and that would be understandable.

Placing ANY petroleum based product on a rubber product will start the process of rotting the rubber product away

You would not want to use baby oil with condoms!! ;)

[Chris81]

Strewth I thought I was a worrier. I've put the occasional bit of grease on boot seals over the years with no ill effects. I'd obviously better go and price up some new seals for when mine perish

[GIDDLEPIN]

Strewth I thought I was a worrier. I've put the occasional bit of grease on boot seals over the years with no ill effects. I'd obviously better go and price up some new seals for when mine perish

Good to see helpful advice offered here is deemed to be worthy of sarcasm

[Jamesbelfast]

Strewth I thought I was a worrier. I've put the occasional bit of grease on boot seals over the years with no ill effects. I'd obviously better go and price up some new seals for when mine perish

Good to see helpful advice offered here is deemed to be worthy of sarcasm

Any mineral based lubricant will cause deterioration to sealing strips even if they are made from synthetic materials. Guess what modern seals are made from?? They are mostly made from crude oil by-products. Even washing up liquid can have similar effects on such products that why it is not recommended to use the stuff in your washer bottle - it damages the washer pump plastic and rubber components. The problems really starts to show when exposed to UV light so a boot rubber seal will last longer because it used less.

There are greases especially for the purpose. These are nornally referred to as silicon based lubricants commonly used on electrical cables and any decent motor factor will have it in stock.