Frozen door latch..hair dryer.

[primetime]

So once again, my door latch was frozen this morning ( i know, nothing new for us E53 owners ) I get in thru the passenger side which was also frozen, I start the car and proceed I hit the lock button on the center console to close the passenger side since that latch is frozen and wont keep my door shut. I get out of the car start scrapping the sleet off my windsheild and of course i lock myself out with the car running. I grab my other key, I manually unlock the door but nothing...I can't pull it open. I suspected that the latch was frozen so I grab a hair dryer (with an extension cord) and start heating the outside of my door right around where the latch would be, praying that this would work...after about 8 minutes the door finally opens..Of course then, I was 30 minutes late to work..( It took me several minutes to try to figure out what to do, after my other key wouldn't open the door ) Man what crappy morning!!

[ncx]

At least you got in, at least you had another key, at least the latch didn't break... could have been a lot worse!

Glad the hair dryer worked for you. It doesn't usually get cold enough here to worry about that but I will remember this trick just in case it happens when I head up to 5000ft for skiing in a few weeks.

[primetime]

Ncx, you're right! And before i thought about the hair dryer i was pulling pretty hard on the door handle..I very well could have broke it. Then the hair dryer idea came to mind.. I primarily heated the outside of the door about 6 inches below the door handle and to the right (closest to the crevice in between driver's door and passenger door on the driver's side. ) That is near the actual location of the latch itself. Then I periodically moved the dryer up to the door handle too. Just in case you need to know!