Trouble unlocking 1984 300DT in cold weather.....

[HuskyMan]

Came out of work tonight, the key turned in the lock fine but the door wouldn't unlock. After several tries it finally unlocked. It had been around 29 degrees here today....

when I got the car home, I sprayed some lock lubricant in the locking cylinder on the door, turned the key in the door.....everything seemed to work fine....all the doors and trunk lock locked and unlocked normally. Weird.

Any ideas?

[Rogviler]

I've definitely had water get into mine and freeze. Also you never know what sort of grease someone put in it, some of which will freeze solid in cold temps.

I'd monitor it. If it keeps happening then you'll probably want to pull the whole thing out and clean it really well.

-Rog

[HuskyMan]

the only lubricant I've used in both the ignition and the door locks is Super Lube Dri-Film Lubricant. It says the operating range is -40 degrees fahrenheit to +500 degrees fahrenheit.

Last evening the problem was the key would turn in the driver's door (didn't appear frozen) but the door would not unlock. Still puzzling??

Here's the link to the product I use......

https://www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-11016-Aerosols-Dri-Film/dp/B000RFRM4U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514465635&sr=8-1&keywords=super+lube+dry+film+lubricant

[ESchwab]

Just about everyone where I grew up in Illinois had this problem in winter. We just heated our keys as the problem is a little bit of ice in there. I don't know whether the problem persists with newer cars; I moved from there in 1962.