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Car Forum / Honda Cars / December 2004How to enter an iced car
I live just south of Lexington KY, and the last 24 hors have been interesting. Areas slightly to our north-west have record snows. We had a mild ice storm last night. About 1/4" of the clear crud. The local power utility does a good job of keeping trees cut back so we had no power outage. Feb. 2003 saw some areas without power for up to 2 weeks. w I was dismayed to dicover my 1991 Civic coated in a sheath of ice. I could unluck the front doors, but couldn't budge to doors. So I got the hatch up, crawled in and made it into the drivers seat. Since I am 6'1" it was quite a sight. The engine started up with no problem. I expected to be able to force a door open from inside the car. WRONG. Stuck like with epoxy. Crawled back out through the rear hatch. I couldn't get into my utility building because the combination lock was iced over. I debated pouring some warm water on the doors, but decided that thermal shock might crack the glass. So I rumaged through the house looking for a solution. I found the Krogar house version of "Lysol". 99% alcohol. So I grabbed both cans and went out to fight the ice. Worked great. As I sprayed it on, the ice lifted away from the door frame. I used a small peice of flexible plastic, AKA credit card, to work the alcohol into the seals. Took about 10 minutes on each door. By that time the engine had heated up enough to loosen the ice on the windshield. I sprayed the seals and wiped them off then sprayed them with silicon. When the temps drop to 0 tonight I should be able to get into my car. The only downside is the car smells like a doctors office. Terry > I live just south of Lexington KY, and the > last 24 hors have been interesting. Areas [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > office. > Terry Believe it or not, running the car and warming up the interior would have done you just as well. You dont have a hammer? > I live just south of Lexington KY, and the > last 24 hors have been interesting. Areas [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > office. > Terry First thing, make sure your weather-stripping is in good shape. That could solve your problem right off. When I lived in NY state, this happened to me a few times a year. Some people may not like my solution, but it worked. I owned an old car (minus remote entry)... yes I needed a key to unlock. Well, the key "flap" was broken in an open position and was prone to icing up. Sure no one would've stolen the car if I never locked it, but thats not the point. Take out a lighter and heat up the key. Also put the flame to the lock mechanism... try not to set any cloth gloves on fire. To open the door from that point, I'd lightly thump on the frame (NOT glass) and rub an ice scraper along the crack. If you can't even get a crack in the ice sheet, use the same lighter and melt a small hole in the ice (at the frame), then start peeling/pounding. -keith > I live just south of Lexington KY, and the > last 24 hors have been interesting. Areas [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > office. > Terry The lock worked fine. I spary it about once a month with a good quality silcon lub. I had even taken the precaution of appling silcon to the door seals. In other ice events that had allowed me to enter with no problem. Terry I would clean the seals with rubbing alcohol or some type of cleaner. Then I would apply a silicone spray or lube to just the stripping. I don't know which is better but I would think that it would work. Additionally if I was experiencing that type of ice problem I would consider a car cover at night. Hell large sheet of plastic might work just as well draped over the door and certainly on the windshield to help prevent scraping ice in the morning. > The lock worked fine. > I spary it about once a month [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > allowed me to enter with no problem. > Terry I tried a heavy silconized cloth back in 2002 when we had several inches of ice. It took 5 of us to remove the cloth. It was HEAVY. We get this nasty stuff once every couple of years, and given rarity, Lexington more or less shuts down. I am going to install a 500 watt heater, with smoke detector shut off, to try an avoid 15 minute warm up times. I hope that this will allow me to warm the car up, melt the crude so it just falls off. Terrry green salad, and iced tea. Coffee and apple pie then brandy. Maternity Ward Pot Luck Dinner If you can?t get anything fresh from the hospital, nursery, or morgue; you can at least get rid of all the leftovers in your refrigerator. 1 - 2 lbs. cubed meat (human flesh, chicken, turkey, beef...) 1 -2 lbs. coarsely chopped vegetables (carrots, potatoes, turnips, cauliflower, cabbage...) Bell pepper onions garlic ginger salt pepper, etc. Olive oil butter Brown the meat and some chopped onions, peppers, and garilic in olive oil, place in baking dish, layer with vegetables seasoning and butter. Bake at 325? for 30 - 45 minutes. Serve with hot dinner rolls, fruit salad and sparkling water. B?b? Buffet 1 Show off with whole roasted children replete with apples in mouths - and babies? heads stuffed with wild rice. Or keep it simple with a hearty main course such as stew, lasagna, or meat loaf. Some suggestions Pre-mie pot pies, beef stew, leg of lamb, stuffed chicken, roast pork spiral ham, Cranberry pineapple salad, sweet potatoes in butter, vegetable platter, tossed salad with tomato and avocado, parsley new potatoes, spinich cucumber salad, fruit salad Bran muffins, dinner rolls, soft breadsticks, rice pilaf, croissants Apple cake with rum sauce, frosted banana nut bread sherbet, home made brownies Iced tea, water, beer, bloody marys, lemonade, coffee The guests select food, beverages, silverware... everything from the buffet table. roast pork spiral ham, Cranberry pineapple salad, sweet potatoes in butter, vegetable platter, tossed salad with tomato and avocado, parsley new potatoes, spinich cucumber salad, fruit salad Bran muffins, dinner rolls, soft breadsticks, rice pilaf, croissants Apple cake with rum sauce, frosted banana nut bread sherbet, home made brownies Iced tea, water, beer, bloody marys, lemonade, coffee The guests select food, beverages, silverware... everything from the buffet table. They move to wherever they are comfortable, and sit with whoever they choose. Provide trays so your guests will not spill everything all over your house from carrying too much, nor will they have to make 10 trips back and fourth from the service stations. Roast Leg of Amputee By all means, substitute lamb or a good beef roast if the haunch it is in any way diseased. But sometimes surgeons make mistakes, and if a healthy young limb is at hand, then don?t hesitate to cook it to perfection! 1 high quality limb, rack, or roast Potatoes, carrot Oil celery onions green onions parsley garlic salt, pepper, etc 2 cups beef stock Marinate meat (optional, not necessary with better cuts). Season liberally and lace with garlic cloves by making incisions, and placing whole cloves deep into the meat. Grease a baking pan, and fill with a thick bed of onions, celery, green onions, and parsley. Place roast on top with fat side up. Place uncovered in 500? oven for 20 minutes, reduce oven to 325?. Bake till medium rare (150?) and let roast rest. Pour stock over onions and drippings, carve the meat and place the slices in the au jus. Bisque ? l?Enfant Honor the memory of Grandma with this dish by utilizing her good silver soup tureen and her great grandchildren (crawfish, crab or lobster will work just as well I keep a can of common de-icer in a spray can for situations just like this.By the way,DE-ICERS contain methanol,which is a type of alcohol.You essentially did the same thing as a spray de-icer chemical,although your way was slower and more difficult.The only advantage of a spray de-icer is that it is faster and covers more area quickly. I have several cans of deicer and severl gallons of alcohol (I go camping and use it for a small stove) in our utility building, but it too was a block of ice. I don't like keeping flamables in the house, but since Lysol is 99% alcohol, we have decided that De-icer is no more of a risk, and smells much better. It has been 4 days and it still smells like a doctor office. Our two cats hide wehn we get home after ridign in the car. I guess they don't like doctors offices! It is going to get up to 50 next Friday, so after changing the valve cover gasket, don't ask, just don't bother with aftermarket parts, we are going to wash and wax the Civic with a tuff silcon based product a friend from further north used. She swears that ice won't stick to this stuff. This I have to see! Terry |
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