so cold the door wont latch shut!!

i went out and pulled the frozen door open on my jeep this morning, and then got in like normal. but when i went to shut it, it wouldnt latch shut. i think something on the inside of the door, in the door/lock linkage, is frozen solid. i think it got down to about 12 degrees last night. so anyway, i had to drive 10 miles to school this morning holding the door shut. it still wont latch shut either, the door will close all the way, but soon as u touch it, it will open right up with no resistance. im thinking i need to pull the door panel and find whats froze up, thaw it out, then grease it up so it wont stay wet and freeze. has anyone else ever had this happen?

kolby

At least you got yours open.

I had to drive my Camry to work this morning cause I forgot and locked my doors last night when I got home... this morning all froze up and couldn't unlock them. I finally got the rear hatch unlocked, but then couldn't pry open the hatch to crawl through. Needless to say, I was late for work, and I only live 4 miles from the office.

Of course, my wife didn't have this problem since the Liberty she now drives (was mine, I bought an XJ) was in the garage next to the CJ I'm working on.

If you're around Springfield, the sun is shining by now (11:30am) maybe it'll shut now. I'm going home at lunch and try to get mine open. We have our local Jeep Club meeting tonight... and I can't drive the Camry to that. If you're local, check out www.ozarksjeepthing.com the site is down for now, but our meeting is at 7:30pm tonight at the Fire/Police station community room at Battlefield Rd and Clifton in Springfield, MO. Shameless plug I know, hope ya'll don't mind.

Later,
Keith

Once or twice a year I go buy a can of spray silicone stuff and spray all the rubber seals around all the jeep doors and the wifes olds inlcuding the trunk. A much better alternative to having to go out there with a heat gun and run it around the door cracks so she can go to work. I also use spray graphite in the locks and mobil-1 for greasing the hinges, lithium for the lock itself and that pin in the frame.
As for a 10 mi drive, heck, that barely warms up the cooling system.
During the winter, actually all year, I NEVER use my emergency brake to park, the only time it ever gets used is when changing fluids and the two wheel chocks I have are already being used, all the jeeps are sycnchronized for maintenance, the wifes olds too . I had rear brakes freeze one nite years ago on my dodge van, had to go to a store and buy a propane torch, pull the rear wheels and heat em up then put the wheels back on, no fun in -5f weather, forgot one nite and had the same thing happen to my S-10...

ill check out your club liberty, im about 15 miles south of Joplin. were a little over an hour from springfeild. im a senior in high school right now and have sports so i realy cant commit to anything for another 6 weeks till seasons over, then i might be able to see about joining.

kolby

almost forgot the tech, the door still wont latch, the lock button (mechanical not the switch) wont move (yes its unlocked) so im guessing that it is the problem, hopefully it will thaw out, but prolly not since its still like 12 degrees outside.

My power locks are slow in warm weather, today I almost couldn't get the driver's door to unlock from the inside by hand. I'm sure it has moisture inside the door and was keeping it from locking/ unlocking easily. The pass. side broke free first, so I had to crawl through to open the driver's door. I still can't get the rear hatch open.

When it gets warmer (probably not until Summer), I'll take the door panel off and clean and lube the locking mechanism.

Keith

Oh yeah, I understand school and sports. It's been a while, but I remember how busy it is to be a senior. We go to Disney, OK several times a year, maybe we'll see ya' down there.

hmm i think i might have saw some of your group down there this summer, some time in july, looking around on the website i saw pics of a lime green and dark blue rubicons, i definatly saw them down there with some other rigs, and i know i saw the guy in the blue rubi a few times down there, dont think i would want to mess with him, fairly big guy, shaved head. i remeber seeing some either midwest jeep thing or ozark jeep thing stickers on some rigs too down there that weekend.

kolby

lankchevy said:

i went out and pulled the frozen door open on my jeep this morning, and then got in like normal. but when i went to shut it, it wouldnt latch shut. i think something on the inside of the door, in the door/lock linkage, is frozen solid. i think it got down to about 12 degrees last night. so anyway, i had to drive 10 miles to school this morning holding the door shut. it still wont latch shut either, the door will close all the way, but soon as u touch it, it will open right up with no resistance. im thinking i need to pull the door panel and find whats froze up, thaw it out, then grease it up so it wont stay wet and freeze. has anyone else ever had this happen?

kolby

Click to expand...

Yes it happens often enough, clean out the catch mechanism with WD-40 or whatever you got. especially if you've ever used grease on it before, then cylce it open and closed manually and apply graphite in all positions. works like a charm.

same thing happened to me this morning with the drivers door on my 94' . I sprayed the latch with PB Blaster now it works fine. I was happy to see it worked because for some reason it is the only door the works on my XJ right now! 2 doors (pass. front and drivers rear ) only open from the inside and the pass. rear wont open at all. I think its time to send the 94' down the road I have to many XJ's as it is . So if anyone is interested in a great running 94' in pretty good shape PM me.

On my 97 there's a little plastic cover plate on the backe edge of the door that unscrews to get access to the latch mechanism. Take that off and press the plate the latch pushes on back towards the outside of the door. These get rusted and can stick stopping the door from latching shut.

I took mine off and brought it in the house...washed it in real hot soapy water, had to "gunk" some of the old grease off, made sure it was totally dry and used a spray lubricant on it, work it to make sure it works...did the trick on mine and like you of course this had to happen when the temps. were hovering around the single digits....lol. Good luck, haven't had a prob with mine since.

At least you guys have the weather as an excuse. This weekend I accidently slammmed the door shut on my seatbelt. The cloth strap went right into the latch mechanism and closed lock shut. It took me a half an hour to get the darn thing open. No fun when you have a child in tow. STUPID!!

I wish it was 12* right now... it's like -5 right now. Supposed to get up to 6*. Was -20 yesterday.

All this with maybe a foot of snow. Maybe I should have stayed in Korea haha.