Minivan Sliding Door Freezing Shut

November 1, 2019 5:07 PM

With the return of snow (!!!), my minivan's sliding doors immediately froze shut, which is a problem since the whole point of the thing is that it's a kid-hauler. This happened near the end of last winter, too, but winter was over before I got around to dealing with it. How do I fix this problem?

Googling has provided me with some options from websites of varying levels of sketchiness, so I'd like to ask MeFi and get answers from a more reliable crowd before I start messing around with my car. :)

(I'd prefer expert knowledge or personal stories of dealing with the same problem; I've already googled pretty thoroughly.)

posted by Eyebrows McGee to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total)

Is it a Sienna, and if so did you get the fuse replaced as part of the recall a few years back? (That is as far as my personal story goes. Sorry. It's not a very interesting story.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:46 PM on November 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: It is a Mazda 5 and the door is fully manual. :)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:49 PM on November 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I found this video and related forum post. Looks slightly involved and best if you can find an heated garage space for the work to avoid cracking the plastic. If you/family/friends aren't up for it, maybe this can help guide a trusted mechanic.
posted by exogenous at 5:58 PM on November 1, 2019

IME this is often caused by moisture on the gasket freezing the door to the gasket.

Because it is cheap and easy the first thing I do with this problem is a healthy spray of silicone spray lube over the entire length of the gasket. Usually I spray the gasket a few times over course of a week and then things are good for several months.

It's got to be a silicone lube as that is what creates the moisture barrier.
posted by Mitheral at 6:20 PM on November 1, 2019 [14 favorites]

You can use a thin coating of vaseline or non-stick cooking spray around the gasket points that ice up, to make it easier to dislodge.
posted by nickggully at 6:20 PM on November 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Lubing the gasket worked on our Odyssey (threat level: Minnesota Winter)
posted by padraigin at 7:06 PM on November 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

+1 for Mitheral. Silicone spray. Former Honda Odyssey owner while living on the north shore of Chicago.
posted by AugustWest at 7:14 PM on November 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Liquid Wrench is one national brand that makes silicone spray lube suitable for this purpose fwiw. My last can cost around $4.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:27 PM on November 1, 2019

BTW the silicone spray forms a dry film that doesn't transfer. You won't even know it's there except for your door not freezing.
posted by Mitheral at 11:21 PM on November 2, 2019

nthing the silicone lube (source: Norwegian winters) but would like to add that you should wipe any moisture off the rubber before you spray it.
posted by Harald74 at 4:52 AM on November 4, 2019 [1 favorite]