Winter is coming

[MrBadger]

Moderator comment - some posts merged from 'Model 3 - Frozen door handles'. Thread renamed from "Oh no. Door handles frozen" and "Winter tips"

first really cold snap of season and door handles frozen shut. Took a lot of pressing to open. Tried two, both the same.

Can you remotely open a door?

 

[Roy W.]

You need the “winter key”:

 

[MaDProFF]

warm water. chuck that over the door handle

 

[mmca22gr]

So carry a thermos of warm water on your person just in case!

 

[Jason71]

iIs almost like it was designed and built for a warmer climate......

 

[TezzyMod3]

Had this issue with most of my cars in the past.

‘just pull harder or ?preheat cabin

 

[Dangerous Fish]

Vent via app to open windows and reach in to press button?

 

[Jason71]

Apparently tapping a few times with your hand is the way to go if you don't have a hairdryer handy. it cracks the ice and frees the handle. At least according to Youtube. Not going to work if the door itself is frozen closed but had that happen on lots of cars. I usually resort to a jug of very slightly warm water. I guess pre-heating helps with that one though maybe?
charge port also likely to be an issue as winter progresses both getting it opened or closed in icy conditions.

 

[Jason71]

With the standard charge port the latch for the cable also freezes apparently so you cannot start a charge. Not sure if also a problem on european CCS cars. Hand warmers are apparently the best solution since you can't use water or deicer. There are videos

 

[Thomami]

This can’t be common though can it? Apparently Model 3 was the best selling car in Norway Q3 so maybe they will all be suffering the same fate. They will have a lot more than a cold snap What do they do, who can translate the Nordic forums here?? They must do something... unless they are all going to be on the bus then this winter!

 

[Jason71]

This can’t be common though can it? Apparently Model 3 was the best selling car in Norway Q3 so maybe they will all be suffering the same fate. They will have a lot more than a cold snap What do they do, who can translate the Nordic forums here?? They must do something... unless they are all going to be on the bus then this winter!

like you say can't be a major issue or they would be scr**ed in Norway and Canada but I guess if you are not used to recessed door handles and charge port doors winter just presents a new/different set of challenges with a Tesla that you have to adapt to coming from another car.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

This can’t be common though can it? Apparently Model 3 was the best selling car in Norway Q3 so maybe they will all be suffering the same fate. They will have a lot more than a cold snap What do they do, who can translate the Nordic forums here?? They must do something... unless they are all going to be on the bus then this winter!

Ahhhhhhh, but in Norway they have a DRY cold, whereas in the UK our cold is WET.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Keep complaining. It shouldn't happen.

When the 3 was first sold there were cold-weather problems and they made some changes to help. Might need more.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

We used to use an ice preventative gel on aircraft door and hatch latches and pins to prevent them freezing up and jamming. I think it may have been some sort of silicone gel in a spray can, came with a nozzle like a can of WD40 (don't be tempted to use dWD40, makes things worse). I remember borrowing a can of the stuff from work and using it on the door locks of the car I had years ago, when we were living in Scotland. Seemed to work well at preventing them freezing up. I'll have a dig around and see if I can find what the stuff was called and if it can still be bought, as a squirt of that around the door handle pivot would probably do the trick. I also found that rubbing a very light smear of clear silicone grease around the door seals tended to prevent them getting frozen to the door, probably works by repelling moisture more than anything else. It needs re-doing two or three times through winter, and the coat of grease only needs to be very thin (smear it on with a finger then wipe most of it off with a cloth).

 

[WannabeOwner]

What do they do, who can translate the Nordic forums here??

Bjorn did a video on it. He basically said "Same problem on ICE cars". I've certainly had both ICE door handles and also the door itself, "stuck" in the cold.

I used some "stuff" on the Tesla door and glass rubbers last Winter which definitely helped.

I've just put ordinary (i.e. cold) water on ICE handles, and the door seals, in the past, not actually needed warm water, so maybe that would be good enough?

 

[WannabeOwner]

I used some "stuff" on the Tesla door and glass rubbers

This:

Gummi Pflege Stift

 

[Adopado]

warm water. chuck that over the door handle

If you do then you're going to need WD40 afterwards to get rid of the water or it'll be worse next time. May be a bit of a faf but better to fill an old fashioned rubber hot water bottle and press it against the handle area for a minute.

 

[Adopado]

Vent via app to open windows and reach in to press button?

Wow, you must have skinny arms ... vent only opens the windows by little more than a crack ... anyway they're probably frozen too!

 

[Adopado]

This:

Gummi Pflege Stift

Crikey you could only buy that online ... how could you ask for it in a shop?

 

[Manitoba Keith]

In the app, go to "Climate", then press the button, with wavy lines, at the bottom, on the right hand side to select "HI", it should thaw the charge port fairly rapidly. Might also work on the door latch. See page (12 of 193) in the manual or just search for "THAW"