help with frozen door locks

[JLBMX5]

I have a 93 Miata with an aftermarket alarm and door lock actuators . This morning it was so cold out my car was frozen. I hit my keyfob and the doors would not unlock. I put my key in drivers door and it was so frozen I could not turn it. I was able to turn passenger door lock. But still would not open so I poured hot water on the door itself to see if that would work and it finally let me in the car. We had a lot of rain yesterday morning so I am thinking I got water in the door and everything froze up. my question is does anyone know of a lubercant I can spray in door to stop this from happening again.

[Agent☣Orange]

Man, don't pour water in there, it'll freeze again in even smaller spaces. Auto parts stores carry that door lock de-icer that you shoot into the cylinder to unfreeze and lubricate door locks.

[JLBMX5]

I only poured the water on the outer door shell not the inside of the door

[BlitzWing]

if you have a soft top with a zip window you could try and unzip it from the outside. turn the car over and let the heater and car engines slowly heat the car up.

[ibid]

things I've done in the past include:

'heat up the key itself with lighter or stovetop burner... nice and hot so it slides into keyhole no problem'

hair dryer onto lock

get in the other door

[JLBMX5]

I am leaving my car doors unlocked tonight. will go to auto store tomorrow after work to see what they have for the door locks. I will also give the heated key a try if the spray does not work.

[kung fu jesus]

WD40 is a water repelling agent. When I rebuilt my door lock on the BMW, it came with a small tube of what looked like silicone grease.

FWIW, I have lived in placed cold enough to shatter door handles. I have pissed on my door lock to free it up because it was frozen. True story. :)

[tsingson]

FWIW, I have lived in placed cold enough to shatter door handles. I have pissed on my door lock to free it up because it was frozen. True story. :)

Vladimir Guerrero did the same thing on his hands to toughen them up for batting. True story. Just saying.

10290

The De-Icer in a spray should work great.

[kung fu jesus]

Oh yeah, forgot about those deicer things. Looks like a little bottle of mace with a little tube injector on the top.

[JLBMX5]

I left my car unlocked this morning and sure enough the locks were frozen again.hopefully this spray works because I do not feel safe leaving car unlocked.

[lowandrusty]

yeah, I've been having the same problem as well. I've been leaving mine unlocked, but that is definitely not an ideal or permanent solution. :lol:

[theothersawyer]

Get a garage! That'll solve your problem! :P

[JLBMX5]

I just added that de-icer I bought two cans. It seems to be a little easier to turn the key but I never used the key to unlock or lock my doors. I still leaving it unlocked tonight so in the morning after a good freeze I can see if the locks are frozen if not great but if still frozen I will be able to get in car still. If I had a garage I would install my new top and rollbar :( hell I would settle for a friend with a garage to get those installed.

[kung fu jesus]

James, there is either water condensing on the mechanism and/or the lubricant is old and dirty. Those deicers are good to use when you really need them, but there is a bigger issue at hand. To really solve the issue, consider removing the mechanism, cleaning them, lubing them with a high grade lube that will help reduce the friction and keep the water out of the moving parts.

[JLBMX5]

If its nice on Sunday I might try to get them out then and clean and lube them. I just hope they don't fall apart in my hand. When I took them out of my truck they fell apart but then again those were not working at all so I was replacing them anyways

[JLBMX5]

I did some searching online and found that locksmiths use graphite powder to lubricate door locks so I ordered some in hopes of it helping me in restoring my door locks.