Help with de-icing an entire car.

[lcm1947]

Man, this is weird but my entire car is covered in about 1/4" of solid ice. It's been sitting out in the rain, ice and now snow for 3 days with temperatures below freezing. I know now I should have went out a couple of times to keep this from happening but I'm not used to this type of weather and didn't realize this was happening. I can't even get the doors open due to the stuff. We are having a winter storm here in Austin and we are not used to that at all. It actually snowed a little earlier. That was a treat. Well until now that is. Had the past two days off due to the weather but I expect my company will have to tell us to come in tomorrow not that it's going to get any better according to the weather people until Thursday but I just expect they will have to try and get us in. Anyway when I went out to check on the cars and run them a little in preparation of maybe having to go into work tomorrow I find this situation. I thought about pouring water on them but am afraid the temperature change would maybe scatter the glass or something. Anybody know for certain? Man, I'm glad we just happened to have plenty of food and smokes in the house. WOW! This is awesome!!!

[Popeye]

You're gonna need gallons of warm if not hot water to at least get one door open. Then hope the thing will start. Short of getting it towed into a warm garage that's the best I can tell ya. I had a Navy Recruiting call get stalled in an Iowa blizzard in 82. Took 4 hours in a garage with a big torpedo heater to melt the snow and ice enough to get it started..... Currently 71 degrees in "Metro Woodbine" btw Sorry, couldn't resist. Good luck, Pat

[LinuxRandal]

There was a woman in the subdivision behind our shopping center, who thought she was the first to come up with the "briliant idea to clean off my car with the car wash". The owners of the car wash come in regularly, and told us, she went through the automated wash, and when the hot water hit the windows, they shattered. They then collapsed inward from the pressure (on the angled ones, directly in front of the nozzles), and collapsed on the sides when the rollers went over the car. She was sitting in it, getting drenched the whole time.
That said, since rain gutters have been eliminated on vehicles, cars tend to freeze shut more, as the water is supposed to drain through them (can't if it freezes while running). I tend to use the edge of a brass scraper, to run down the crack of the door and frame, scrape the lock, and then just carefully pull. I have also used my gloved fist, to try to crack ice from the hinge side. As for the front, clean the cowl, so the holes are uncovered. This allows the defroster to work and will help clean your windows off quicker.
Still, be carefull driving on it. I live in a hilly area, and still ended up in a ditch after avoiding other obstacles. Low speed, but still gonna have to replace my bumper

[TheRic]

Sounds like Ohio weather

Hit the ice with your fist, or hammer wrapped in cloth, rubber mallet, etc.
along the seems of one of the doors. Doesn't take much, just enough to break / crack the ice.

Once you get in the car leave it run, with the heat on full, also turn on the rear defroster. After a while the inside of the car should be nice and toasty warm (really only needs to be a little higher than freezing). The ice will at that point be easier to chip off the windows with an ice scrapper. Will almost come off in sheets. Don't worry about getting the ice off the car, it will melt off in the spring.

If you don't have an ice scrapper stiff plastic item or brass item will work. Yes, brass!! Brass is softer than glass. It will not scratch the windows. My favorite Ice Scrapper is Brass, holds up 10X longer than plastic.

If you don't understand any of the terms used, like "rear defroster", "ice scrapper", etc let me know.

[niki]

Hi Mac

Now you can understand me saying "the car must be in the garage every night".

It happened to me that I could not open the doors, the seals are freezing.

I learnt from the locals this patent: take the hair drier and go around the door (it will take some time), once you open the door, do as TheRic says.

They told me that there is some spray to spray the doors seals to prevent them from freezing and some of them said just to use Vaseline, but I prefer the "car in the garage" method.

All the best
niki

[and207]

Winshield washer fluid

Hi!

Pour liquid washer fluid on a door to have access to the car. And after follow TheRic advises

and207

[backpacker85]

Over 40 years suffering through Northeast Ohio winters before moving to Tennessee, and I can agree with almost everything stated above.

The best (safest) way to get in is to use a hair dryer along all the edges of a door until it's thawed. Takes longer, but is much safer than....

If you're in a hurry, you can pound around the edges to break the ice, but be warned, a couple things can happen: 1) with today's cheap hardware, it IS possible to pull the door handle clean off the door if it is still frozen; and 2) it is fairly easy to rip the rubber door seal apart if it is still frozen to the fixed jamb.

DAMHIKT, but "I've heard" you only have to do it once or twice before you learn (OK, maybe 3 times)

[WoodButcher26]

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES USE WATER! HOT OR OTHERWISE! You WILL damage something like glass, seals, plastic parts, etc. I have seen broken windshields, bumpers, wiper blades, etc from trying to use hot water. Lived in frigid cold winter temps a good portion of my life, seen 50 below more times than I can count on two hands.

Now, having said that, I echo the hair dryer or heat gun to get one door open, then turn on the heater for a while. Use a lot of caution trying to smack the ice to crack it. Cold parts do funny things they don't normally do.

Make sure your wipers are off when you do start the car--if they're frozen down, you'll probably strip the drive gear, DAMHIK--once my fault and once my wife's. Oh, excuse me, my fault for not checking the wipers on her car...

Kim

[TheRic]

...Make sure your wipers are off when you do start the car--if they're frozen down, you'll probably strip the drive gear, DAMHIK--once my fault and once my wife's. Oh, excuse me, my fault for not checking the wipers on her car...

Good point!!! If your "lucky" the wiper blades will rip off. Or not too lucky the gear that connects to the arm will be stripped.

[lcm1947]

Thanks guys. I don't know if you noticed it or not but when I posted I was in somewhat of a panic. My wife has a brand new job she started this weekend so Monday was to be her first day with the new company that their employee manual states " bad weather is no excuse for being late or absent. Pretty harsh but that's the way some of these chicken S__t little companies are. Anyway she and I both were off Monday and today due to this storm so she is somewhat concerned about not getting in tomorrow even at least. And it looks like this winter storm will last through tomorrow and some Thursday maybe even so I was trying my best to get at least one car ready. Anyway, I tried pounding the ice away around the door and was able to insert my key but the door handles are so iced up I was afraid it would break off. Anyway, I didn't want to try water as somewhere I had heard you weren't supposed to do that or at least I think I heard that somewhere so thought I'd ask some of you guys that live in this stuff. I think I'll try the hair dryer around the door. I figured once inside I could start it ( I hope ) and that should be the end of it but right now I just need to get into the darn thing. This is crazy! We don't have this kind of weather in Texas - EVER! Thank God we had enough groceries. We seem to be getting low on coffee though and that ain't good. Actually I'm serious. Anyway thanks for the help and I can't believe people can live in this .......what's the word I'm looking for........oh yeah it's the one I didn't spell above.

[billwmeyer]

My wife's car had about 2" of ice on it from the 3 or 4 inches of sleet and then freezing rain on top of that. I used the light tapping with a rubber mallet method and tepid-not warm or hot- water method. It took about an hour to running the car to get the ice to release off of the windshield. Even with a rear window defroster, the back glass took longer.

This was a strange storm. We were lucky since we got mostly sleet, we never lost power, although it blinked a couple of times. There are many people not too far from here still without power.

Bill

[lcm1947]

Well luckily my employer is closing all our branches again today so I won't be having to go in and we have decided if my wife's employer doesn't like it they can drive in this crap and open the office themselves! Hopefully they'll see reason. Anyway it's suppose to get above freezing later today so hopefully the car's will de-ice by tomorrow morning. Thanks.

[Pappy]

I thawed the Dodge out this morning and called the boss to say I was going to attempt the 25 mile drive to work. Took about 45 minutes with the defroster on high then pouring water on the windshield and door glass to get it clear enough to drive.

At the first bridge I was going about 40 and a semi passed me like I was parked. As he cleared me he swerved slightly and the rear of his trailer slid. Luckily the tractor was off the bridge and he had traction so he didn't lose it. Two people were killed in Buda, between me and Austin, yesterday when a semi jacknifed and hit them. I took the next exit, pulled over, called the boss and told him I was turning around.

Tomorrow is my scheduled day off ahd the temp is supposed to go up before Friday.

[Hellrazor]

Call the national guard and inquire about napalm....


I will pass a little trick on to you. If the sun is out, throw a blue or black tarp over the car and wait. The absorbed heat from the dark tarp will help melt the ice and snow. Might not be real fast, but it does work.

[crokett]

Got a water softener? A little of the salt from the softener will melt that ice real quick.