Rear door locks freezing in winter conditions

[Herve]

Hi,

It is finally snowing in the Sierras and I am here with my camper.

I have the following problem: the rear door locks freeze, with ice inside them. It was only with great delay and difficulty that I have been able to open the doors, and now I am concerned about locking them again under such conditions.

Anybody else has this problem? Do you have a good solution for this?

Also, on occasions when I locked just the top lock, the lock appeared to have jiggled and the door opened a couple of times after a few hundred miles of driving... Has anybody else had that happen to them?

Herve

 

[MarkBC]

I have the following problem: the rear door locks freeze, with ice inside them.
Anybody else has this problem? Do you have a good solution for this?
How about WD40 or similar sprayed in/around the mechanism?...Preferably in advance.
Isn't there a product that's sold to unfreeze car-door locks? Seems like I've heard of such. But I've successfully used WD40 for this.

Also, on occasions when I locked just the top lock, the lock appeared to have jiggled and the door opened a couple of times after a few hundred miles of driving... Has anybody else had that happen to them?

Yes.
The hinge of my rear door got a little sprung once by a strong wind gust...
...So now I always lock the deadbolt when driving because sometimes the regular door latch will wiggle open.

 

[BSS]

Keep a bic lighter in the cab. When the lock freezes get the key good and hot, the lock will open no problem. This has worked for me for years.

 

[K7MDL]

Mine was stiff as heck, could not operate it when it got to freezing or near it a few weeks ago. Shot of WD40 and it is butter smooth now, even below freezing.

Went camping this weekend in eastern WA desert (near Vantage) for a motorcycle offroad poker run. Had melting hail and rain overnight, furnace ran almost continuous all night, but sunshine and 51F during the day. Result of the rain, sandy ranch land with no dust - perfect condition for my first 2012 outing and ride.

 

[Roger]

I keep a small bottle of WD40 in the LPG area for just such an occasion. I've had problems with the LPG, 'Fridge and water access panels freezing shut in cold weather too, so I just leave them open in cold weather. No problem so far...
Roger

 

[chnlisle]

There's this;
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS248&q=lock+de+icer&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=10427874977807877835&sa=X&ei=S3tnT4DPOOaXiALJ0ICIBw&ved=0CKABEPMCMAE#ps-sellers

And years ago I used this;
http://shop.mywebgrocer.com/shop.aspx?&strid=434F532&shopurl=ProductDetail.aspx&pid=90249&clk_src=seopd&sc=SEOPD_CA_4795D138-B97E-465B-9428-AF62E970711D

 

[MarkBC]

There's this;
http://www.google.co...CMAE#ps-sellers

This is what I remembered seeing...though have never used.

 

[busboy66]

One thing I noticed with the door lock and the deadbolt after I purchased the camper - there was zero lubrication inside them. Water could easily enter the lock and freeze the mechanism.

I took them both apart and sprayed the lock guts with lithium spray grease. Once assembled I gave everything a shot of silicone spray to keep the water out. No problems since