Does anyone have experience living in a cold climate and their Entourage sliding power doors freezing shut overnight? I live in Central NJ and we've had a fairly cold, snowy winter. Most mornings I can't get one or both of the sliding passenger doors open. I have to load 3 kids in through the back into their carseats which is a huge pain in the neck. The doors usually don't open until the car has been running and warmed up for at least 30 minutes, and even then they might re-freeze. And then when the car is moving I will get "door open" alarms and have to pull over to open and shut the doors.

I've got an appointment at Colonial Hyundai in Ewing NJ on Saturday but wondered if anyone has experience and advice on what to look for in a fix, or if a home fix is possible.

Thanks!

WD40 will help. Spay it onto a paper towel and then rub the paper towel onto the rubber weatherstripping around the doors and tailgate.

My climate is cold also and my side doors are frozen a lot. These are non-powered and it is annoying. I had a Ford van previously that did the same thing. After several years the weatherstripping started to peel off if I tried to yank the door open when frozen. Of course I tried to avoid doing this but sometimes you need the door open.

WD40 would probably help but I wonder about how it will affect the rubber long term. I would investigate lubricating compounds that are neutral to rubber over a long period. I'm not saying WD40 will cause problems but I would want to be sure.

Dear Janes,

WD-40 is a BAD choice for treating weatherstripping. There are light weight solvents in WD-40 that soften the rubber in the weatherstripping and shorten the life. the remaining oil from the WD-40 then attracts dirt.

A much better product is sitting on my shelf at home---Silicone Spray. No dissolving rubber and no oily residue. I use Pyroil but all of these work equally well. You do not need food grade spray as these cost more.

http://www.nextag.com/silicone-lubricant-spray/shop-html

Byron

Hi,

Regularly below -20c here (Ottawa) but I've only had this happen once or twice.
I suspect the problem is 'flash freeze' related - i.e. needs to be wet first and then a fast temperature drop - which might explain why you see it overnight.
I'd suggest simply making sure the weather stripping is dry with a paper towel now and again.
If you still have problems I'd vote for the silicon spray mentioned previously - wd-40 has the ability to 'melt' plastic

You would have really suffered a lot.

There is a recent TSB for this issue. Your description sounds more like the issues I was having with doors not opening when pulling on the outside handle. Door is unlatched but motor doesn't pick up until you really pull it open hard the first couple of inches. Or grinding / groaning after the doors have closed followed by the door chimes. Or when the door closes it groans and pops back open again. A google search for 'entourage power doors' or 'sedona power doors' will show lots of people complaining of this issue.

I had the tsb done on my van and am quite happy. The doors are nearly silent when the open and close now with a solid click as they latch.

Text version of TSB from Hyundai

Note the job took a day and a half for me (loaner was provided) because there is so much dissassembly to be done and my dealer wanted it done right the first time.

I live in Ablerta and we get our share of cold snow and then melting followed by freezing again. When I worked for a GM Dealer we had lots of trouble with doors freezing shut. GM reccomended using a silicone emulsion on all the door seals as regular maint. It fixes the problem and does not destroy the rubber. It actually conditions the rubber so it stays soft and does not become brittle and crack with age.