Door hitch not working on Toyota Corolla

fishhead · #1 12/12/10, 10:11 AM

The Door won't open on my Corolla in cold weather.

Sometimes it won't open and other times it won't catch when I shut the door. When I do get it to catch then it won't open.

Last night I let the car idle with the heater on for an hour (zero degrees F outside). The door worked just fine. I sprayed it down with WD-40. I shut it off for a couple of hours and then it opened but wouldn't stay closed. I tripped the electric locks off and on a few times and it caught. The handle that opens the door moved but didn't seem to be attached to anything until the door started working again.

When I got home the door wouldn't open.

I think it may have something to do with the moisture in the car because my door seals freeze to the frame. I think it may be because I leave my dog inside the vehicle a lot and I'm carrying snow in on my shoes.

Any suggestions?

plowjockey · #2 12/12/10, 10:23 AM

If the door sometimes won't catch when closing, you can rule out the door seals freezing. If they did freeze, pouring a pticher of warm water around the edge of the door should loosen the seals, but even better use a a de-icer spray. Wiping the seals with silicone spray or even something like Aromorall will help keep them from sticking.

The amount of moisture inside the vehicle should not matter.

I suspect the door latch and would suggest a graphite based lock spray versus the WD40 (which is a fine product). Get something with the little plastic "spray tube" and try to shoot some inside the door/latch as best as possible

The electric locks may be culprit also, as when they age, they get sticky and the cold does not help. Currently having that problem also.

fishhead · #3 12/12/10, 10:57 AM

Thanks. I mentioned the door seals as evidence of high humidity in the car. I'll put some silicone on the seals.

I was going to pull my door panels and clean the insides of the locks and windows last summer but didn't get it done.

Beeman · #4 12/12/10, 11:38 AM

I would say you were on the right track with wanting to clean and lube the door locks and window mechanism from the inside. It sounds like crud has built up inside and is gumming things up. Roll the glass down and try flushing everything with liquid wrench or another penetrating oil. Sometimes the original factory grease gets so dry and dirty it sticks everything especially in cold weather. The best would be to remove the door panel and remove the lock mechanism and soak and clean it then start from scratch.

jtjf_1 · #5 12/12/10, 12:32 PM

To deal with the humidity but a bucket of rice with salt on top in the car

sticky_burr · #6 12/12/10, 01:24 PM

umm NOT hot/warm water unless you want to buy a new window above freezing only

fishhead · #7 12/12/10, 02:42 PM

I don't really want to deal with it in this weather. It's hanging around zero to 10 above lately.

Tomorrow morning after I crawl out of my car like a drunk in the parking lot at work I'm going to call my mechanic to see if he can get it in to fix it. That's what I get for putting it off.

HermitJohn · #8 12/12/10, 02:49 PM

No idea on Toyotas, never worked on latch of one. However cars/trucks I have worked on latch, take the actual latch out of the door, there will be three or four bevel head screws holding it in place and linkages. Then totally immerse the latch in a small pan of ATF overnight. (cut one of sides off plastic quart oil bottle for good size pan) Oh, when you replace the screws, use some anti-seize on the threads.

Really lubes up the latch and unlike WD40 or other spray remedies, it keeps things lubed for years.

Now on my Ranger, Ford used some expensive, impossible to find (nobody has it cause my Ranger is considered too old!!!) sheathed cable (looks lot like throttle cable). First time I replaced the rusted inner cable with bulk aircraft cable. Second time I looked at whole system closer and noticed Ford had one end of cable pointed up so water would get down into the sheathing and rust the cable. The only protection was an impossible to find little rotted rubber cap which is sold as part of the impossible to find new cable assembly.

I was PO'd at such stupid engineering cause rusted cable not moving had caused me to break the inside plastic door handle trying to open the door. First I homemade a replacement inside door handle from actual steel, just few tiny bits of scrap. Second I welded a little curved arm (another bit of scrap) onto the door latch so it would trigger with forward motion instead of downward motion. At this point, I didnt need cable, just used a piece of baling wire going from new custom latch trigger to the inside door latch. Worked like a charm and no high dollar impossible to find cable. This is how the latch linkage should have been designed in first place. Absolutely no reason to use a sheathed cable.

Now had another sticky latch on drivers side of my Festiva. Took it off. Unfortunately the latch mechanism itself is half plastic. But nothing broken so I soaked it in ATF. Really loosened it up and worked fine when I put it back on. I dont like seeing all that plastic. When it finally fails, will have to adapt an all metal latch off something else I guess unless I get lucky and find junk Festiva someplace. At least they used a metal rod as linkage from latch to inside plastic door handle so didnt have to redesign that.

fishhead · #9 12/12/10, 09:17 PM

Yeah they must have had a bunch of real winners design the insides of Ranger doors. I ended up pulling fuses to get the dome light to shut off and the door chimes to quit. Before that I drove about 100 miles with the door chime going BONG BONG BONG. I couldn't turn the radio up loud enough to drown it out.

Wis Bang 2 · #10 12/13/10, 12:49 PM

Real cold weather & dad's '63 Chevy wouldn't latch. Locking the door would make it latch when closed...latch was freezing as the symptom went away as soon as it warmed up some. Wouldn't take much moisture to freeze up in there.