Frozen Rear Door Lock

I opened my passenger rear door (the door that gets used the least) yesterday, it then wouldn't close, the locking mechanism wouldn't work. It was -15C, about 5F, but its been colder than that before,never had this problem, even at -25C.

No Kessy, just regular locks.

I sat the car in the sun, left it running with the heat up, called the dealer to see if I could park it indoors for a while. They said yes, but they also had 3 or 4 other cars with frozen doors, Jettas and Passats. One Passat had a frozen heater fan, it wouldn't run until left indoors for the car to warm up.

Before I left for the dealer, the door was working again, but was not working again last night when I went out.

The dealer suggested lubrication, which I did today.

Anyone else with this problem?

Don

This has been happening with my drivers door. Only when below freezing out, the door will not unlock and open. Sometimes I can work the locks a bunch of times and then it'll open. Other times it takes hours to thaw out.

I pulled the plastic cover off to access the manual keyhole. I sprayed some graphite lube in there and sofar its been working, but that was only a few days ago so time will tell...

My old Audi A6 (first gen) had a feature with its cold weather package, that would thaw out the door handle when you pulled up on it, when the temp was below freezing.

liquid graphite - available at any auto parts store - best friend for frozen locks and latches :tu

NSTDI,
I had exactly the same thing happen a couple of times with the driver-side front door when temperatures slipped a few degrees below freezing after several days of rain. Each time I just cycled the lock/unlock button on the inside of the door once and it was enough to reset the latch to the proper position for engagement with the striker. I would say this is solely a case of moisture freezing in the locking mechanism. This problem is not unique to Passat.

I had tried the lock unlock procedure, no help at the time. I had read where some locks were being replaced, was wondering how frequently this issue popped up, especially where the dealer had some other cars with the same issue at the same time I did.

From the low number number of responses, it does not look to be a flaw in the locks. That's a good thing.

I sprayed the locks with some Rust Check, hopefully its an isolated incident.

Thanks,
Don

My front door opens fine in my garage this morning but locked me in after my hour drive to work . It's now in a heated garage at work thawing

RonJitsu said:

This has been happening with my drivers door. Only when below freezing out, the door will not unlock and open. Sometimes I can work the locks a bunch of times and then it'll open. Other times it takes hours to thaw out.

I pulled the plastic cover off to access the manual keyhole. I sprayed some graphite lube in there and sofar its been working, but that was only a few days ago so time will tell...

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I spoke too soon. Froze again this morning, but it opened a bit quicker then usual (pressing lock and unlock) this time probably due to the graphite lube I sprayed in there last week.

You all need to quit washing your car in these temps... Water Freezes!

kidding, just kidding...

In all seriousness, there are a few others out here with similar issues and its turned out to be the drivers door lock actuator. If its going bad, your VCDS cable (or dealer) will be able to pick up the code...

ABS said:

You all need to quit washing your car in these temps... Water Freezes!

kidding, just kidding...

In all seriousness, there are a few others out here with similar issues and its turned out to be the drivers door lock actuator. If its going bad, your VCDS cable (or dealer) will be able to pick up the code...

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After a few hours in the garage the door unlocked after cycling the fob a couple times. When it was frozen I couldn't even open it from the inside ( handle wouldn't pull). Does this sound like the actuator or a frozen mech? Either way I sprayed all the latches with silicone and it's been fine since.

Symptoms do seem to indicate moisture...

Scanning to confirm there aren't any codes would give you a definitive.

Happened again this morning but I was able to get it to unlatch by pulling hard on the inside handle. How would moisture get in there to freeze up the mechanism in the door ?

Condensation will form as you move between the ambient outside air and your garage. This will become more likely as the temperature delta between the two gets larger. Try using a hair dryer on the mechanism after it's been in the garage awhile. If there is some moisture buildup in there, it's a good way to dry it out.

Please check posts under Driver's Door Won't Open. It's the actuator that's no good. Take it to the dealer to be replaced under warranty. Be prepared to wait couple of weeks for the part.

^^^ I don't disagree, as mentioned in my earlier post. A scan would confirm if the actuator is the issue.

Dealer is gonna replace the actuator even though I'm past warrenty. They said this is a really common thing with the passat. The parts guy said there are none in the country right now and an updated part has been ordered with a 1 month wait.

Softrockrenegade said:

Dealer is gonna replace the actuator even though I'm past warrenty. They said this is a really common thing with the passat. The parts guy said there are none in the country right now and an updated part has been ordered with a 1 month wait.

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Can I ask which Dealer you went to?
I'll have to head over there and order the part for mine.

RonJitsu said:

Can I ask which Dealer you went to?
I'll have to head over there and order the part for mine.

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VW of freehold. They have always been really good to me, and their pricing on parts and fluids is pretty good too. They quoted around $240 for the left front actuator.

Softrockrenegade said:

VW of freehold. They have always been really good to me, and their pricing on parts and fluids is pretty good too. They quoted around $240 for the left front actuator.

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Thanks for the info. I've been there for one of my free services and for parts before, they've been good to me on parts pricing. I guess I'll be heading back there very soon. Thanks again

As an FYI-same problem w/my 2011 Mk6 Golf. 3 of the 4 doors have acted up. Either can't open the door or once open, the latch won't return and the door won't close and stay closed. This didn't happen the previous winters, though this winter has been quite a bit colder with temps below zero on 15 nights. The problem first surfaced after I had the car washed on a day that was about 5 above. But it has happened about 5 times in the 4 weeks since but only when the car was parked outside (I usually park in my garage at night) and at temps only as high as the upper teens. So far I have been able to resolve the issues on my own but I was afraid I broke the lock or handle one of the times - luckily I didn't. Never really had this problem with any other car I've owned and my Golf has been flawless otherwise. You'd think VW engineers would have confronted this during their cold-weather testing in Scandinavia and Canada. Of course, maybe they never washed the cars.

My door would open, it just wouldn't close again. It happened again once, but I was able to get it working easily by slamming it a few times. Since then, we've had little cold weather adn its been in the garage with a blown turbo since last Monday.

Don

NSTDI said:

My door would open, it just wouldn't close again. It happened again once, but I was able to get it working easily by slamming it a few times. Since then, we've had little cold weather adn its been in the garage with a blown turbo since last Monday.

Don

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Blown turbo on a 2013 Passat?

Driver door frozen numerous times. Dealer cleaned and lubed. Still freezes up and must crawl over from passenger side...

Now the heater blower has frozen up on top of this... Latch parts will be a week to get in. Car is thawing in warm garage to see if heater will thaw out.

So much for cold weather testing...

Went to the dealer today, they replaced my drivers door actuator on good will (49k miles now).
Unfortunately my door stop (aka door strap depending on who u talk to) failed and needs to be replaced, it's making a cracking sound and the drivers door will barely open or close without lots of force. They denied a good will fix for that part. Luckily the part is only $46 so I'll just install it myself.

Im having an issue with my 12 passat now . the last two days when im driving and come to a complete stop and take off i can hear one of the rear doors try to lock and it wont lock . I just got to work and opened up all the doors and closed them all and hopefully this fixes it . I'm not too impressed with the build quality of this passat compared to my previous gm only vehicles. Lots of little things that shouldn't be popping up .

Ramairetransam said:

Im having an issue with my 12 passat now . the last two days when im driving and come to a complete stop and take off i can hear one of the rear doors try to lock and it wont lock . I just got to work and opened up all the doors and closed them all and hopefully this fixes it . I'm not too impressed with the build quality of this passat compared to my previous gm only vehicles. Lots of little things that shouldn't be popping up .

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Head over to your dealer. They have an updated lock actuator that fixes the problem. (If that is what is causing your issue)

Im out of warranty ,will it be free ?


I got to work and opened and closed all the doors and when i drove home things were fine , but get this stroke of luck

I get home last night and my drivers door wont open , not even from the outside when i rolled down the window. I tried unlocking and locking to no luck . So i restarted the car and played with the lock and it fixed itself.


Thats the first time ive had that problem . Anyone have part numbers or know if its free or how much out of warranty.

Front door lock frozen in frigid weather happened to me....

last month.
Same thing, I couldnt get the door latch top open and had to crawl over the middle of the car to get into the drivers seat.

Now I will say, we have been getting wave after wave of Polar air as have those in the N'east,and it is still that way, but since they have "fixed" it, no problems.

Took it to the dealer, Autobarn in Countryside, and they kept the car for a week and fixed it. Replaced the inner workings of the latch etc. I dont have the name of the parts now, but its the same as everyone else. They gave me a loaner and as long as I had a car, I was good to go.

It does get frozen and will stick, but the VW manager told me he had a few of these, and it is a bad part and they did have to wait for the part to come in.
They were great and so far they have been above what I thought a dealer service dept was . Good place so far, but nothing really has gone wrong with the car. !5,000+ miles.

anyone know if its free since im out of warranty . Also my drivers door wont let me out , second time it happened , had to put the window down and use the outside handle to get out of the car.

Ramairetransam said:

anyone know if its free since im out of warranty . Also my drivers door wont let me out , second time it happened , had to put the window down and use the outside handle to get out of the car.

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They can't give you an answer upfront. They made me agree to a $135 charge for an hour of diagnosis. An hour later "good will" approved the repair which covered the part and labor. I paid nothing at all, not even the $135 diag charge. I'm also out of warranty (49k)