Frozen Tailgate

[gdecamp]

Hi!

Been a while since I posted....

I went on a trip over the past few days from NY to Maryland. All went really well except for one thing which was odd and I wanted to see if it ever happened to anyone else.

In Maryland it was 11 degrees on Tuesday morning and very windy, wind chill 3 or 4 below zero. We stayed in a hotel and the vehicle stayed out in the parking lot all night, no indoor parking and they wouldn't let me park it in the room.... I woke up and we headed out for the day to visit my wife's dad. I went to open the tailgate with my key fob and nothing. then I went to the tailgate itself and tried to open it with the handle and nothing. Then I went inside to the drivers seat and tried the inside switch to open it...still nothing. I heard a motor but obviously the door was frozen shut. There was no visible ice or snow so I guess the cold and wind did something somewhere. I drove around for an hour and it then opened probably because of the heat I had on inside the cabin

Anyone ever experience this? I would hate this to happen when I went to put in my luggage and not be able to. What do you do besides leave the heat on in the running car to get it open??

Thanks

 

[peterk9]

Hi!

Been a while since I posted....

I went on a trip over the past few days from NY to Maryland. All went really well except for one thing which was odd and I wanted to see if it ever happened to anyone else.

In Maryland it was 11 degrees on Tuesday morning and very windy, wind chill 3 or 4 below zero. We stayed in a hotel and the vehicle stayed out in the parking lot all night, no indoor parking and they wouldn't let me park it in the room.... I woke up and we headed out for the day to visit my wife's dad. I went to open the tailgate with my key fob and nothing. then I went to the tailgate itself and tried to open it with the handle and nothing. Then I went inside to the drivers seat and tried the inside switch to open it...still nothing. I heard a motor but obviously the door was frozen shut. There was no visible ice or snow so I guess the cold and wind did something somewhere. I drove around for an hour and it then opened probably because of the heat I had on inside the cabin

Anyone ever experience this? I would hate this to happen when I went to put in my luggage and not be able to. What do you do besides leave the heat on in the running car to get it open??

Thanks

I haven't noticed any issues with mine and it was around -13 F for a week or more a while ago with a windchill of around -31 F although windchill shouldn't affected it. Is is possible that conditions were wet the last time you used it and then the rubber molding froze?

Peter

 

[rickybobby]

a little Vaseline on the seal will prevent it from happening again

 

[colintrax]

Coulda just been some moisture. Few days ago when we got that big ole storm, I had to give my brothers friend a ride home since the buses couldn't make it. He opened the hatch to grab his backpack. 5 minutes later I tried to open it to get my rope (pulled a VW) but it was frozen shut. All I can figure is snow got on the seal when he opened it and it froze

 

[gdecamp]

Thanks guys!~ Could be right about the moisture. Maybe some Vaseline or silicone spray will work. Thanks again!