x5 hates the cold

[baner16]

why oh why do the doors on the x5 freeze up so easily
owned many cars over the years but this has to be the worst by far
after teasing it open at the begining of the day i can go for a drive get the car toasty warm leave it for an hour and they have froze up again
handles always solid
windows solid even boot lid was solids today
its begining to become a problem and with even colder on the way has anyone got any tips or thoughts on the matter
cheer carl

[AW8]

1. Residual moisture on rubbers may be freezing the seals - Maybe wipe dry same if able.

2. Consider buying a lock de-icer.

3. Pour warm water over frozen door handle before gently lifting same.

4. On days when windows not frozen depress unlock button on fob to lower windows then open door using internal handle.

[fradillian]

Hi Carl,

I have a similar problem that the doors will open, but the lock mechanism stays open so the door won't close as it won't catch.

This morning it was -6 and it took 4 (not boiling, but hot) kettles of water to de-ice the lock. The rear doors always open so sometimes when I'm in a rush and I know the front doors will play up, I get in the car via the rear doors and then climb over in a very unladylike fashion . My neighbours think its very funny that the locks freeze so easily on such an expensive car. Especially when they get in their Fords and Jags and drive off without a problem whilst I'm still standing there with my kettle! I know that other cars do have problems with frozen locks but it is still frustrating.

AW8, your tip number 4 re using the internal handle. Would this help with my problem? Great idea, just hope it will help.

[baner16]

been lucky with my locks so far they dont seem to freeze up (touch wood)
my problem does seem to be water on the seals freezing the doors shut
i will try aw8s idea of giving them a good wipe and see if that helps
window idea no good as my windows seem to freeze up as soon as it gets to 0 degrees lol
can anyone think of anything i could put on the rubbers to help
cheers carl

[Jalf]

Thankfully mine lives in the garage so its always nice and warm, not quite so warm the last couple of weeks though

[CondorX5]

All our car locks have frozen in the weather, not just the X - My Range Rover did exactly the same in weather not even as cold as it is now. And folk at work have been reporting exactly the same problems with a variety of cars. You could be unluckly as to where your X is parked- perhaps it gets the weather side on compared to where your neighbours park their cars. I can assure you Fords and the like are NOT immune to frozen locks - we've had a number of people at work with problems across the board, several makes of car.

I've found that a bit of pre-planning helps. I'm lucky enough to have auxiliary heating so trigger that 20 minutes before I want to leave, then also use hot (not boiling) water carefully around the drivers door to crack the iced up edges, and squirt some Lock Deicer into the key hole. I keep the deicer with me in my bag in case it happens in the day (in some places its -5 to -10 even in the day), and also have a battery powered deicer. Unfortunately, wherever moisture has penetrated, ice can develop, and over the lifetime of a car (my X is 5 years old now and I don't have a garage) moisture is likely to penetrate, even just slightly, past the window rubbers and reach the lock mechanism, leading to frozen mechanisms in these torrid conditions. I've sprayed the rubber strips with silicone conditioner just to make them more supple and less vulnerable to water, but hey, the conditions are unusual for the UK and perhaps we need to get used to them and get ready to deal with them.

But its certainly NOT just Xes that are suffering - every make of car is having a bad time of it!!!

[X5Sport]

One thing my Dad used to use years ago, and I'm not sure where to get it from, was graphite powder. He still has a small puffer bottle of it from about 1950ish and it works very well. It needs very little applied and never freezes.

[Junkie]

A tip I have adopted since breaking the internal cable/cradle on drivers door handle is to clean all door rubbers with WD40 or similar water dispersant, spray on, wipe off, then when it gets cold the doors open freely. Repeat every couple of days. Not failed yet...

The handles on the other hand are notorious and even copious spray of said WD40 hasnt done much to help.

I did read on the former site that a good pre winter maintenance tip was to cover all door internal moving parts in decent quality grease, again preventing moisture ingress and freezing mechanisms.

Obviously I forgot the latter point as I too have frozen locks, or at least my X5 does

[5wany]

Front door handles is just one of em things on E53.
Snapped my drivers door one 2 weeks ago when temps was down to -16C. Put hot water on the handle in morn around 7.30am when leaving to work, opned no issues. Parked up at work and left office around 11am to go on site, didn't think about handle re freezing (still -10C) and promptly snapped the door carriage mechanism when I tried to open.

Ordered one up at dealers not expecting to get one as I thought the number of E53 owners in uk who will suffer similar problem this winter will prob mean they are out of stock, but got one phew Dealer said it was one of the last in uk. Must say leaning over from pass side or climbing in back was pain the 4rse. Now fitted.
Mines broke at the cast piece next to small nylon part (?)

Been quite poor weather (Edinburgh) over 50-55cm snow last 2 weeks with another 8cm today plus some really low temps (lowest was -17C one morning on dash temp brrrr)

X5 has done the business though never failed to get up, down or around anything yet, and thats on 20" alloys.

Don't half wish I had pre-heat comfort access, though I got next best thing with heated seats and heated steering wheel (nice warm hands )

Ah well happy motoring everyone.

[petert]

+1 for th heated seats and steering wheel. Funny how priorites change as you get older...

Peter T

[Rick]

I have used Silicon spray on all door rubbers and it has helped the door freezing,clean off all rubbers and and make sure steel of door is dry before applying

[paulbryson75]

Funny how priorites change as you get older...

or could read Funny how priorites change as you get Colder

My next car will def have heated seats.......

[jonamv8]

The door not closing issue is causing me some problems!!! I'm having to pull it shut and then press the lock down, drive for about 20 mins and it seems to be ok and will actually close, nightmare.

In terms of driving though, wow - capable vehicle. DSC off, lots of 4WD drift fun!!!

[CondorX5]

If you give the lock a quick spray of lock deicer after first opening it in the morning, that seems to do the trick with the non-closing problem...however, frozen window mechanism is an other thing altogether, I just wait till it eventually defrosts. And as for screen wash, well, finding screen wash which doesn't freeze is quite a trick unless you buy loads of the BMW OEM stuff (and even that froze on a 1:1 dilution, so would need to use it neat) if you are close to a dealership........ the Halfords and Tesco stuff only gets to around -6 if you're lucky - my screen wash bottle was solidly frozen for a few days even with the heat of the engine running. I guess the products in the US / Scandinavia are a bit better than our stuff!! I still wouldn't want to drive a Volvo though even if its fully winterised and built for Nordic conditions!!!!!

[phill]

[quote=""jonamv8""]The door not closing issue is causing me some problems!!! I'm having to pull it shut and then press the lock down, drive for about 20 mins and it seems to be ok and will actually close,[/quote]

I found that if the door will not shut after opening, pouring warm water (about a kettle full) onto the bottom edge of the window above the door handle that has the thawed the handle and internal bits and bobs and allows the door to shut as normal, so far this has worked for me.


Phill