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  #1  
Old 01-21-2019, 03:28 PM
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Frozen door latches

Ha. It’s that time of the year again.
For a short minute I thought another week another repair .
Thought I needed a new door handle.....


Off to pull the plug on the sides to do some Winterization
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  #2  
Old 01-21-2019, 04:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jsoto View Post
Ha. It’s that time of the year again.

For a short minute I thought another week another repair .

Thought I needed a new door handle.....





Off to pull the plug on the sides to do some Winterization


Pre treat the door seal with windshield ice spray when the temp transitions from above to below freezing and the door won't freeze.

The door latch you can remove the plug for accessing the DHC screw and spray the anti-freeze in there to help prevent the self-destruct button from engaging.

The only real fix is to saw off the self destruct button.




The arrow points to the "self destruct" button. Its job is to prevent lifting the handle when locked however the problem is when you unlock the door the self destruct tab will remain in the locked position due to gummy lubricant and a very gentle spring.



Saw that bastard off and your door handle never locks anymore. Just like "every other car on earth" it will pull up freely "dry fire" when the door is locked but you'll no longer put significant stress on the hinge if the door seal is frozen and you can unlatch the door and have some hope of opening a frozen door.

The onky real workaround to X5 frozen door handle problem is enter through the tailgate.

If the windows aren't frozen you can roll down from outside and use the inside door handle.
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Old 01-21-2019, 04:49 PM
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From what the CEO told me, the handle actually pulled up quite fluid....just seemed off once the door opened and she was right. It would not close/lock. After driving to destination, another close on the door and all was well.

Heh, forgot how picky these things are when they are wet and then it turns bitter blast cold. Eh, nobody likes going to sleep wet and cold.
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Old 01-21-2019, 09:39 PM
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I have the exact same issue on my 01. Had 2+" of rain yesterday, than 4 degrees this morning. Have had to hit my door/latch with heat gun twice today. For it to only freeze up again and now I am just letting it sit till it warms up. Using my diesel dump truck! BullS*$% that the doors of a German designed car freeze and you can't even get in it. Is the "plug" you are all talking about that little black on on door jam? Take that out and spray WD in there?
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Old 01-21-2019, 10:15 PM
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Correct on the plug. A lil antifreeze. I dunno if it helps or not....problem only occurs with the obvious - leaving it outside after inclement weather followed by a freeze if it's not inside the garage
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Old 01-22-2019, 07:36 AM
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What about using one of the spray dry lubes, they are supposed to last quite a while?
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Old 01-22-2019, 08:45 AM
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I think it’s two different parts getting frozen. Mine was the dhc not allowing me to pull the handle enough to engage as I was still able unlock/lock with my key fob.


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Old 01-22-2019, 01:39 PM
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Yeah that's a bummer if it hangs unlatched. I've driven across town back in the 80s holding my door shut.

A blast of defrost agent into the access hole will likely cure that.

Don't spray any kind of lubricant in there (wd-40, lithium etc)



This will prevent the door seal from freezing I'm not sure how well It will work on the DHC from preventing the self destruct tab from sticking but worth the effort.
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Old 01-22-2019, 01:58 PM
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I'll be working on wife's dhc and actuator soon. I will figure out if you can get spray in the right place to be helpful from the access hole for removing the DHC. I do know that the cable is accessible to open the door from outside using a hooked piece of metal or a flat blade screw driver just right. I'll try to get a photo to show the method.

When my DHC was broken and my key got locked in my car I had to figure out how to get in. Fortunately I had the replacement DHC to practice and learned exactly where to shove a long small screwdriver to push the cable and open the door. Since the DHC was out of the equation this would work to open a frozen one also.

Also maybe I can figure out how to un-stick the self destruct button from outside the car.
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Old 01-22-2019, 02:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_robot View Post
I think it’s two different parts getting frozen. Mine was the dhc not allowing me to pull the handle enough to engage as I was still able unlock/lock with my key fob.


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The two different parts are:

1) the door seal. When that freezes the door will move a little bit as the rubber stretches. If you can tell the door is moving and you can feel the door handle lifts and unlatches the easiest way to break the ice free is to get in via non frozen door of possible so you can push from inside.

If that is impossible (all frozen) or if you don't want to climb through the car, the second best way to break the ice is to push very hard working your way around the door. "Body slam" the door with your shoulder or forearm then maybe some firm blow using your closed first like a hammer. The idea is you need to compress the rubber seal to crack the ice off. I've done this recently and it's effective.

2) the "self destruct button". There is a little lever that when the door is locked prevents the door handle being lifted. Learn how it works when not frozen: pull on the handle when locked and learn how it feels. It will move about 1/3 to 1/2 of normal then becomes firm with no mechanism moving. Learn that when it feels like that the HANDLE is locked regardless of door latch status. When I broke my DHC I actually noticed that I could hear the self destruct lever moving out of the lock position about a second after unlocking the door.

The lever has a very weak spring on it and if any oil ever gets into that mechanism it's likely to get gummed up and stay locked when the door is unlocked.

I will look into if possible to spray some antifreeze or even wd-40 in there (wd stands for water displacement) if you keep the water out out won't freeze to ice but I think more often not ice but just gummy oil is the problem.

I cut the tab off the locking bar on and DHC when I ever open up a door to work inside. It will eliminate the cause of most breaks of the DHC.
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