rear doors sometimes not locking in cold weather

[Ace]

Last winter I had an occasional problem with one rear door not wanting to lock the outside handle even though the lock button was down. Recently I have had both rear doors sometimes fail to lock. I sprayed WD-40 into both mechanisms, which instantly fixed one side, one time. I've also jiggled the child-proof adjustment around and sprayed lube in there.

My Tercel is only 30 years old and I live over a mile off the paved road (i.e. dusty driveway in summer). A probably related issue, my driver's side window gets hard to wind up and down and I've been in there to lube the scissors mechanism 3 or 4 times over the years.

Winter weather is not convenient for working on the car so I haven't troubled to remove inner door panels for inspection - yet. If anyone else has experienced similar problems and can give me some clues, I would appreciate the advice.

If you haven't had the problem on a similarly old Tercel - it might be a good preventative measure to spray some lube into the door latch mechanisms occasionally.

[ARCHINSTL]

I have that problem about the D/S windows - every couple of years I remove the door panels and REALLY clean the rubber channels with denatured alcohol to remove the buildup of crud and dust, and then periodically spritz silicone lube down them. I can't recall the last time I had occasion to roll down the P/S windows, since the Gkids are now old enough to drive (but NOT Gpaw's car!).

I think the biggie with the door lock - and related gizzies - is just lube that gets hard. I never had that problem with my then-new '83 during the 3 years I had it - I just assume the OE Toy lube just hardens with cold weather.
Tom M.

[dlb]

ace, i've found that most problems with stuck windows are easily solved with numerous and generous sprays of silicone lube along the window tracks. i've also lubed the scissors mechanisms in the doors with white lithium grease but it hasn't had as much effect.

as for the door handle not locking despite the button being depressed, i think something in the linkage is bent. it takes less than 5 min to remove a door panel so i would do it on a nice day, pull the linkage out and look for any obvious deformities, straighten it out, lube the mechanism, and throw it all back in. i had a similar problem on my current project but got it sorted out pretty quick with that approach.

[TURTCEL]

I also had to remove my window regulators on both front doors and lube them. Neither of the crank mechanisms were wobbly or oblonged like they commonly get so lubing them improved them greatly. I used high temp bearing grease for wheel bearings on mine and what a difference.

I did not spray my channels which after reading this post makes total sense. If the track that the window slides in is not a smooth sliding path then no matter how lubed the regulator is the window will still fight to go up and down. This causes the risk of having the window channel seal to pull out and get bound up not allowing the window to roll up or down without major force...not good. This happened on my driver's window so I pulled the seal, heated it with a small torch to make pliable, and sealed it back in with weather strip adhesive. Worked great.

I bought the wrong lube for the channels the other day...white lithium grease. Ill keep It since it works on a lot of other things but I will grab a can of silicone spray for the channels tomorrow. It has been around 1 degree at night and only the mid 20's during the day here for over 2 weeks now so the windows tend to freeze up and get stuck. I like to still crack them in the winter for fresh air so I am hoping the silicone spray will help with that. I never force my window if it is frozen.

Peace

[Petros]

dupont makes a silicone spray lube with teflon particles in it, I have used it on the windows and it seems the extra teflon in it makes good sense. It should last longer than straight silicone lube.

[TURTCEL]

sweet i will look for that one tomorrow at the parts store.

Peace

[ARCHINSTL]

Is this the DuPont product?
http://www2.dupont.com/Consumer_Lubrica ... icone.html
Tom M.

[Petros]

that is the stuff!