Rear doors unlock but won't open

[Pat]

After washing and waxing the car last night, opening and closing all the doors many times, I tucked it away. I came out to ride this AM and both rear doors won't open.

I recycled drivers master switches, then the locals even used the manual door handle. No help. I can see and hear the door solenoids activating and the tabs moving up and down. The manual door handles feel like they are engaged.

but doors wont' open, stuck solid, no movement. Windows work OK.

The weather here is dry, no ice for a week. Temps around 30 degrees.

What to do?

[Bluerauder]

After washing and waxing the car last night, opening and closing all the doors many times, I tucked it away. I came out to ride this AM and both rear doors won't open.

I recycled drivers master switches, then the locals even used the manual door handle. No help. I can see and hear the door solenoids activating and the tabs moving up and down. The manual door handles feel like they are engaged.

but doors wont' open, stuck solid, no movement. Windows work OK.

The weather here is dry, no ice for a week. Temps around 30 degrees.

What to do?

I suspect that the rear doors are just frozen shut. You said that you washed the car the day before and the temp is below freezing now. Water hangs up in all the seals and door cracks. When that water freezes it creates a tight seal and an almost vacuum like grip to the doors. The pop up handle provides you very little leverage to jerk the door open without being worried about snapping the handle off. I have had this rear door issue several times over my 10 year ownership in similar conditions. Park it in the sun and let it heat up and free the doors. Hope this works.

Something else to check is the "Child Lock" button (I think the MM has this feature). You may have inadvertently activated the button on the door while cleaning it yesterday. Not sure why this would interfere with opening the doors from the outside ... but you can check anyway.

[rayjay]

That was my thought too, frozen. What Charlie said will work. If you really need to get in a bucket of warm water poured over the door will open it. However, it will freeze again if its below 32*. You are lucky, usually its all the doors. FWIW, it was colder here at 11:00pm last night than in Syracuse, NY. ??? Now that is different.

[fastblackmerc]

Yep.... Ice formed on the door weather strips. The way to prevent that from happening is your wipe down the door jams and weather stripping and follow up with silicone spray on a towel applied to the weather stripping.

Child safety locks which the MM has prevents the doors from being opened from the inside.

[lji372]

I suspect that the rear doors are just frozen shut. You said that you washed the car the day before and the temp is below freezing now. Water hangs up in all the seals and door cracks. When that water freezes it creates a tight seal and an almost vacuum like grip to the doors. The pop up handle provides you very little leverage to jerk the door open without being worried about snapping the handle off. I have had this rear door issue several times over my 10 year ownership in similar conditions. Park it in the sun and let it heat up and free the doors. Hope this works.

Something else to check is the "Child Lock" button (I think the MM has this feature). You may have inadvertently activated the button on the door while cleaning it yesterday. Not sure why this would interfere with opening the doors from the outside ... but you can check anyway.

:concur:

Give them a jerk...

[RF Overlord]

Yep.... Ice formed on the door weather strips. The way to prevent that from happening is your wipe down the door jams and weather stripping and follow up with silicone spray on a towel applied to the weather stripping.^^^what Jim said^^^

[Bluerauder]

Child safety locks which the MM has prevents the doors from being opened from the inside.

As I thought ^^^^^^ initially. :D Another possibility is to give the doors a "bump" with your hip. Not too hard. Then "bump" the top of the door and near the wheel well with your fist. All you need to do is crack some of the ice in the seal and let a little air break the vacuum that has been created in the weatherstripping. Or, if it is not TOO overcast, enough sun may bleed through the cloud cover to warm the car just enough to turn the ice to water again.

[Mr. Man]

So was the peanut gallery correct Pat?

[whitey]

Hows about letting the heat run in the car, that should free her britches!

[Pat]

Sorry to take so long to reply but we went ahead with our trip plans. At the first stop for breakfast, about an hours drive, both rear doors opened normally. As you guys said the door seals were frozen. I did as recommended and wiped the door seals with a silicon spray. We are going to set another hard freeze next week.

Thanks to all for hitting this squarely on the head.

Regards,

[fastblackmerc]

Sorry to take so long to reply but we went ahead with our trip plans. At the first stop for breakfast, about an hours drive, both rear doors opened normally. As you guys said the door seals were frozen. I did as recommended and wiped the door seals with a silicon spray. We are going to set another hard freeze next week.

Thanks to all for hitting this squarely on the head.

Regards,

You can also wipe down the surface where the gasket seats with some silicone.