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M3 windows frozen and will not drop when opening car door
- Thread starter Cenzo
- Start date
Walked out to our beater 2005 Subaru Forester this morning (I ain't taking my M3 out in this salt!). Had to yank the door back and forth for a couple minutes before it opened.
This is not a Tesla-specific issue, but it's certainly annoying!
This is not a Tesla-specific issue, but it's certainly annoying!
The one time I've had to use the SC - I ran over a screw 3 weeks after having the car. My biggest nightmare and reservation about the Model 3 was no spare and fear of being stranded, came true less than a month into the car. Called roadside, they were amazing - put me at ease. The Charlotte center didn't have a loaner wheel available, so he instructed me just to uber home, they will have a tow truck come pick it up, tow it to my choice destination (I chose the SC just because it was after hours on Saturday night and didn't want to leave it outside some random tire place) and then the SC would call me in the morning. He said they would reimburse me for the uber, just have the receipt available when I pick up the car. I was like - 'OK, wish I didn't have to leave my car here, but OK.' Sunday, I call them - just because I want confirmation they have my car and that it can be repaired on Monday, but SC is closed on Sunday, talk to someone in Sales who has no idea what is going on. Take off work Monday (have no car), after a couple attempts am able to get someone in service. Car will be ready that evening - perfect. Go out there and as I am settling out, I mention the thing about the uber, and the girl at the desk looks at me like I am crazy. So she points me to the service center manager, he asks if I have anything in writing, uugghh, no - it was a phone call at like 8:00pm with your roadside assistance. So after about 15 minutes of back and forth, finally I was like "would it be helpful if I got someone from roadside assistance on the phone?" so I called roadside assistance standing right in front of him, and of course they were like 'oh yes - this is 100% reimbursed', handed him my cell and let him talk to them for a few minutes, then he agreed to reimburse me.
Ended up hanging out and talking to him for about 45 minutes afterward - he was a nice enough guy once we got that settled, my impression is that the individual SC's are held pretty tightly accountable to their expenses - which is why the experience may vary from SC to SC.
Garlan Garner
Banned
Yes - my response was directed to super20g's comment in regards varying service levels from SC to SC.
The one where he asked you to be his valentine.
super20g
Member
All my calls are recorded anyways, but it saved me several grand the last time I dealt with service... Just asked if the service manager wanted to listen to what he agreed to the day prior. He did not. He got upset that I recorded him and then I got what he had previously agreed to...
To stay on topic so Garlan doesn't find a new Valentine, it was cold as balls today and I didn't have a single problem with doors or windows... Charge port was another story.
Cold here again this morning to. This time I remembered to preheat the car right when I woke up, so it had a good 30-40 minutes. No issues with the window sticking like yesterday.
Would pouring hot or boiling water in the door handles or window trim area be a terrible idea?
Just adding a data point. We've gotten extreme cold this week on East Coast. Yesterday after a snow squall and temps in the teens, I was very nervous that I'd get back to my car and not be able to enter. I preheated for about 10 minutes before I got to it, and when I walked up it had ice and snow all over the windows and handles. Temp was 18 degrees with wind.
Put my hand on the handle and... with some force... it opened, the window slid down, and voila, in my car!
Put my hand on the handle and... with some force... it opened, the window slid down, and voila, in my car!
humbaba
sleeping until $7000
So last night I was informed that M3s had trouble with freezing shut and not being able to open the doors. Which I found puzzling as I didn't have any issue at all, even with the polar vortex. The worst I've experienced with my Tesla was moisture that froze and so "sealed" the door, but that's just a bit of frost and no issue at all. Meaning I noticed the frozen moisture cracking when I pulled the door open, that's it. My car is parked outside, but under a car port so it isn't completely exposed to the weather, but it isn't protected like being in a garage.
Something people don't seem to understand is that cold air holds less moisture, so there is no rain required for freezing -- just high humidity and dropping temperatures will cause the moisture to condense and freeze. (Shouldn't be) any mystery.
As to Tesla vs other cars? I laughed when someone here said that going through the passenger door wasn't an option. I hope they were being intentionally funny because I have literally had to do that with other cars. That is particularly a problem with street parking when the wind is highly directional.
Then the posts about boiling water. Ugh. Do you want the glass to shatter? But I've had to use water to melt ice off of a non-Tesla so that I could unlock the vehicle. I got smarter and quit locking the car in cold weather to avoid the problem. If I'd suggested that a recall was required due to defective design and inability to use intended, basic features (a door lock) I'd've been (rightly) laughed at.
Or talk about non-recessed handles (which are more prone to freezing as they are more exposed) being easier to man handle. Or break. Something else about cold weather: most materials become more brittle the colder it gets. I lost a door handle to a moron "hulking it". Door didn't open, and from then on it could only be opened from the inside.
In either case, finesse will do the job better than attempting to brute force the problem. This is often the way of things.
At the end of the day, a Tesla is still a car and it isn't magically immune to physics. Freezing conditions are not good for vehicles. The design of the M3 improves on the general condition by allowing pre-heating and having recessed handles, but it suffers from the frameless windows. But it is still a car, has handles, doors with seals that are subject to weather conditions.
I get that a Tesla is, for many people, a hugely expensive purchase. It certainly was for me. I never dreamed I'd spend this much money on a car. But that shouldn't eliminate a sense of proportion.
Something people don't seem to understand is that cold air holds less moisture, so there is no rain required for freezing -- just high humidity and dropping temperatures will cause the moisture to condense and freeze. (Shouldn't be) any mystery.
As to Tesla vs other cars? I laughed when someone here said that going through the passenger door wasn't an option. I hope they were being intentionally funny because I have literally had to do that with other cars. That is particularly a problem with street parking when the wind is highly directional.
Then the posts about boiling water. Ugh. Do you want the glass to shatter? But I've had to use water to melt ice off of a non-Tesla so that I could unlock the vehicle. I got smarter and quit locking the car in cold weather to avoid the problem. If I'd suggested that a recall was required due to defective design and inability to use intended, basic features (a door lock) I'd've been (rightly) laughed at.
Or talk about non-recessed handles (which are more prone to freezing as they are more exposed) being easier to man handle. Or break. Something else about cold weather: most materials become more brittle the colder it gets. I lost a door handle to a moron "hulking it". Door didn't open, and from then on it could only be opened from the inside.
In either case, finesse will do the job better than attempting to brute force the problem. This is often the way of things.
At the end of the day, a Tesla is still a car and it isn't magically immune to physics. Freezing conditions are not good for vehicles. The design of the M3 improves on the general condition by allowing pre-heating and having recessed handles, but it suffers from the frameless windows. But it is still a car, has handles, doors with seals that are subject to weather conditions.
I get that a Tesla is, for many people, a hugely expensive purchase. It certainly was for me. I never dreamed I'd spend this much money on a car. But that shouldn't eliminate a sense of proportion.
Is there an iPhone app to record all your calls automatically? How much is it?
This may be a good idea, unfortunately.
Cracking glass from big temp difference?
Yesterday after some rain the day before I had some cold issues, yes even here in Tesla homeland with our SFBay Calif temps! As someone mentioned above the moisture had frozen in the door handle and around the windows a bit. I had to push a bit harder on my driver’s door handle and heard it crack. The window went reluctantly down and here you can see the ice crystal build up.
The car was preheating and I was waiting for the rear defrost to clear more before heading out. Stupidly during this time I decided to clear what I thought was only condensation on my rear driver’s side window so depressed that window’s button. Nothing. Got concerned I might have messed up the motor for it.
Got out of car and went to open that door. Resistance with that handle as well but it did open however. Before going to close the door noticed that the window had not dropped (thanks to all posts about this in cold weather! My first time with frameless windows/doors.) and when I gently moved door towards car sure enough had I pushed the door closed it would have had the glass hitting the chrome trim piece. Closed it to the car as close as possible to keep heat on the inside and took out a plastic gift card (card trick others here also suggested) and ran it around the window between the glass and the rubber seal edges. After a few minutes got door closed and just ran the card along the top window seal.
If this was a frequent occurence with moisture and freezing temps, I’d probably look into picking up some silicone spray others have mentioned. I know this isn’t anywhere near the subzero temps some of you face but wanted to post a SFBay report letting people here know they can expect similar issues here and to be careful not to break your door glass or damage your trim if your windows don’t drop.
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humbaba
sleeping until $7000
Seems to be a common issue:
Tesla Model 3 is starting to show some important flaws in cold weather
Perhaps try putting some silicone spray on the rubber seals to prevent the windows from getting stuck, but if some internal parts inside the door are freezing you may be out of luck.
Fortunately we don't have this problem here in California (instead we're "enjoying" unhealthy concentrations of smoke particles in the air from the camp fire).
Not true @Eno Deb about not having this cold weather issue here in Calif. Read my experience from yesterday here south of San Jose. M3 windows frozen and will not drop when opening car door Could see snow on the ridges that day. Plus lots of SFBay area people live at higher elevations than me or in the Coast Ranges that get worse conditions than where I’m at with the rain and cold and even snow/ice.
Eno Deb
Active Member
Yeah, I heard that there was a bit of snow up in the hills (also in SF). Fortunately I live down in the valley so freezing temperatures are rare and usually only happen in the middle of the night when I'm not driving.
Anyway, this just goes to show how easily even moderately cold temperatures can cause issues with these cars. It's a bit disappointing how little testing Tesla has apparently done.
