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....and having discovered the joys of bangernomics with a £100 88 Nova I find myself with a situation that I haven\'t come across before. All the cars I\'ve owned previously have never had frozen door locks, but this one is so bad I couldn\'t even get the key into the lock of the tailgate. Any favourite cures from the backroomers for home and on the road?
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I bought this cool(well...) thing ages ago from Debenhams - it\'s a lock deicer and torch and you can slide out this metal spike and in a few seconds it\'s hot enough to melt ice (or burn skin).
Or you can get lock-deicer packs which are just small aerosols of deicer with a specially shaped nozzle to squirt into the lock.
Other option is to heat up a really thin screwdriver or kebab skewer or something in a flame and use it as per the top option.
-- Kev
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.........and when you\'ve finished sqirt in a few drops of thin oil, such as 3-in-1. Also consider a light smear of vaseline on the door rubbers; stops them sticking to the body work when it freezes after rain.
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I use WD40 followed by 3in1 as a preventative. This time of year I carry a blowtorch type fag lighter so if I\'m stuck I carefully heat up the car key.
Steve.
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I agree with using WD40. Apply it with the red pipe into the locks every Autumn and again in January/Feb & work it in & out & around with the key. Your locks should stay unfrozen throughout the winter. Your pockets & fingers will occasionally have a nice black stain for a while though!
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They will only freeze if they get water in them.
Make sure the flaps move across when the key is taken out, and washe them out with WD$) or similar, then as someone else says, use a proper oil as WD40 is not a very good or long lasting lubricant, and is not designed to be such.
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The oil method seems to be the best but, If you are accidently stck at home, get out a hairdryer and heat it that way. If away from home try leaning your bum against the lock for a while. Lift your coat first, of course.
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