Need Suggestions on dreaded"frozen hood latch"

rcm296 · Dec 22, 2008

hahahah as topic states, heres the scenario
Live in northern Ontario, Canada, wintertime it gets to -40celcius lots of times throughout winter.
Yesterday my dad, who does'nt have a garage, calls me, his hood latch is frozen, i managed to get it open, without $$%^&^& the cable, but ended up breaing one slat on the grill, trying to get screwdriver on the "spring mechanism" to pop the latch.
What a good product to prevent it from totally freezing again , have tried dry graphite lube and white lithium grease.

gotmud13613 · Dec 22, 2008

The only thing that I found that works is fluid film

rcm296 · Dec 22, 2008

reading up on that product, sounds great, too bad closest dealer is like 800 miles away,lol

GDA · Dec 22, 2008

Boil a small pot of water and take it out there and shoot some boiling water at the mechanism and hood with a turkey baster.

Works for car doorlocks too.

Depending on location - slush and ice are hard to prevent building up just from winter/storm driving. Just keep it lubed well with white lithium grease.

speed bump · Dec 22, 2008

GDA said:
Boil a small pot of water and take it out there and shoot some boiling water at the mechanism and hood with a turkey baster.

Works for car doorlocks too.

Depending on location - slush and ice are hard to prevent building up just from winter/storm driving. Just keep it lubed well with white lithium grease.

That works until you get about to about -10°F or so, then you just froze the lock really good because even boiling water freezes pretty darn fast.

gotmud13613 · Dec 22, 2008

rcm296 said:
reading up on that product, sounds great, too bad closest dealer is like 800 miles away,lol

Almost every John Deere dealer has it in stock (at least around here ) check with them if there is one near by.

GDA · Dec 22, 2008

speed bump said:
That works until you get about to about -10°F or so, then you just froze the lock really good because even boiling water freezes pretty darn fast.

Agree. I grew up in Iowa and in wintertime had to thaw out a couple doorlocks over the years. Depending on the driving and conditions there is no be all cure.

old salvage · Dec 22, 2008

How bout military, cold weather, gun oil ?

rcm296 · Dec 22, 2008

i found some at one our local auto parts stores..once again us Canucks get ripped off.lol
cost me $70 for 4 litres. I am so cheap and used to getting most my other penetrating lubes n stuff like that free from the mine, forgot how expensive some these products are

. gonna wrap it up and give to the father as a gift, more i read on this product"Fluid Film" more i liked, father has a houseboat , so be good on that, snowblower(always freezes up), etc etc....even my tools in my job bag(gets damp and humid in there)

SteveU · Dec 22, 2008

Seems like lock de-icer would work on something like this. I used a bit of synthetic ATF on mine to loosen it up & it has worked since.

gofastman · Dec 22, 2008

First, use a powerfull solvent to clean the latch mechanism thoroughly, get ALL that white lithium grease, grit, and grime out of there, white lithium grease has its place but its deffanetly NOT hood latches. That alone should make the biggest improvement. Next spray some penatrating lube like wd-40 or pb b'laster in there, that will drive out all the moisture and keep things working smoothly.

Need Suggestions on dreaded"frozen hood latch"

rcm296

Well-known member

gotmud13613

Well-known member

Attachments

rcm296

Well-known member

GDA

Well-known member

speed bump

Well-known member

gotmud13613

Well-known member

GDA

Well-known member

old salvage

Well-known member

rcm296

Well-known member

SteveU

Well-known member

gofastman

Well-known member