Door won't open when cold!!
 

Hi,

Anyone had experienced any problems with the doors when it's cold (<32 F). When I wash the car and leave it parked outside, temperature is less than 15 F and I try to open the rear passenger side door next morning and It won’t open from outside or form inside... This happened to me for the 5th time now this morning. I had 2 dealers checked it when it happened first time and one said “expect anything goofy from this car when it’s cold”. The other dealer couldn’t replicate issue, they checked the door for codes and they put WD40 on the handle and latch.
Any ideas?

Thank you very much.

Does it feel like it is frozen or is the locking mechanism not releasing? If it it frozen it would seem there is some kinda leak that is letting too much water stay (and freeze) on the seals...

Exactly!! And it's fine when it's warm... But which seal? door handle seal?

do you have keyless go? On other brands with this feature I've had problems with the actuators in these systems from time to time on individual doors....but had always been able to unlock it manually from inside.

Yeah, i have keyless go. The lock seems to work fine, I can hear it clicks and it rises when i unlock... Although, I had a minor dent in the middle of the door and they fixed by Paintless Dent repair, would that screw up the mechanism in the door, or would it cause something else to let the water leaks inside the door...

what a crock of sh*t. these dealership types can come up with the most amazing excuses.

+1 on water leaking in since you said it happens after you wash it.

Well there is one diagnostic approach.

After washing the car, take some towels, open the doors and hand dry the door seals. If the next morning the doors open as they should, you'll know that water isn't draining properly......which if it is, I don't see how that's correctable.

My current problem of the week with my E550C is Keyless Go failure, so I have
some sympathy with you. As goofy as it sounds, their comment is closer to the
truth than we would wish.

My Keyless Go fails when cold apparently due to a
battery voltage drop in the cold. They claim it is due to my "driving style":
short work - home trips which do not charge the battery properly.
So this low voltage shuts off my Keless GO!
Yet it works fine after I click the car open / locked with a key, and none of
my previous MB cars' Keless Go failed like that, and there is enough juice to
start and get all the systems to work as soon as I start the car.
And so they say the car "behaves as designed"....That may be the case but I
am sure it is not the way they meant it to behave. But no, "you have to get
used to it Sir!" A marvel of engineering!

What a load of crap that is!


Anyway back to your car:

Do I understand correctly: your power lock responds
to your hand on the handle but the handle will not open the door? This would
mean problems with the handle / latch.

If you do not hear the click when you reach for the handle (even without
touching it) and if the display on the speedometer says "key not detected"
then the problems with the Keyless Go. Which is your case?


:zoom:

I have experienced the same problem. And I came the conclusion that it is related to the handle sensor.

If you wash the car make sure to wipe the water off handles really well.

Also, dirt might be an issue...

I have not experienced it since....

I don't get it. These cars are designed in Germany, where it gets freezing a$$ cold. You'd think they'd rigorously test the cars in those conditions.

did this happen before you had the dent? have to think that maybe knocked something out of tolerance.

Thank you all for your replies, yeah the power lock responds to my hand and it unlocks but the handle jams and sticks, only when you put more power into pulling it will it open, but guess what... the door won't close!!! it bounces back at me! when that happens, i hold the door in closed position and lock it manually. After that, the door won't open at all (from inside and outside) until after it warms up "defrost it" per MB dealer...

K-A, you are right, those cars should work as designed for extremely cold/hot weather conditions.

mg-e550: it happend after i had and fixed the dent... is it possibly linked to the door water drainage leaking in and freezing.

They are tested. And tested in extreme heat, too. That's what the mules are for, like out here in the Mojave. But sometimes vendors change or the vendor's own component tolerances and/or assembly can change. Also when new tooling happens and the assembly line changes, that can cause issues for a while. And it doesn't get fully understood until it's out in the consumer's possession and on the road. Like Volvo's ETM debacle, etc..

Excuse me....but he's already said that he didn't start having problems till the door got wrecked. So its damage related...not manufacturing or engineering.

Actually I think he stated the dent had nothing to do with it, and it seems other Members have experienced the same/similar situations.

Well, I didn't notice or experience any issue with the door when the dent was fixed back in Nov 09, but the weather was warmer... The issue started early Jan 2010... So how do they fix minor door dents in these cars? I remember them saying " we didn't take the interior door panel off to fix it"...

DCist, thank you for your input and sharing your issue with me, just to confirm, when you were experiencing the issue with the door, were you able to open it from inside or not?

Thanks again.

I once had a dent fixed from my 211 and the did not touch the door panels. They use tools through the opening between the door and the window glass (there is no opening to start with but they force the door plate a bit away from the glass.

Theoretically their tools could have hit some sensitive parts inside. I'm not sure where these sensitive parts would appear on a W212. Which exact area of the door was the dent fixed from?

The dent was right in the middle of the door...

The interior handle is connected to the door lock via a bowden cable. It would pass the dent area but it should be on the other side of the window glass. Difficult to see how the "dentist" could have hit the cable.

You'd think!
 

I had an '83 Saab that started with great difficulty in S.C. in a garage if it was cold (30ish). Even had problems sometimes in the summer.
Worst was in Virginia one winter when it would not start at all. Had it towed an dealer there replaced the regulator-no more problems, but two years later.
Local dealer had been adjusting the Bosch warm up regulator per BMW standards. They sold both makes and both had same regulator. Saab said do not adjust, but BMW had TSB on how to do it. He said Saab would not replace them as they did not consider them defective when received. So dealer was out cost of part and labor.
Regardless, multiple adjustments never got it right.
Good note was that the local dealer reimbursed me for the tow, parts and labor in Virginia.
So, yeah, you wold expect cars made in cold climates to really do well in mild winters. Of course, you would also expect Toyotas to not have acceleration and braking problems.

True that.

My thinking was just that the dent distorted the metal in other parts of the door and loosened up seals around the handle, trim or window which is letting water in. If water gets in and expands as it freezes you could have all sorts of problems. Just my $0.02.

Thank you for all your replies, dealer finally said, it's the latch and they are ordering it from Germany, it takes 10 days to get it.