23 degrees outside

freezing rain.

Me driving home...

Arrives home after 25 mins

Try to open driver side door. Nothing..... Try to open passenger side door...nothing... oh...****


Click Click go the electronic locks as I try to figure out the issue. Nope, seems like they work! So what is the problem? Did I manage to break or dislodge 2 bowden cables in 2 1/2 minutes? Really? 70,000 miles and -4 degree F winters and they never broke but now both at the SAME TIME?

Rolls windows down...tries to open both handles from the outside. Nothing. Handles squeeze but no open. Locks do pop open if I lock them and try to open from the inside but the door themselves won't open....Bang on the door while trying to open...nothing

It's raining outside so leaving out the window means I would have to leave the window open while it rained. No go...

I wait for a passerby to open the trunk for me to get out.... a nice waste of 30 minutes. Just laughed my *** off at myself.

Good times with the R53... now once it thaws out I will see if both cables dislodged themselves.... until then I guess I am climbing in through the trunk.

Great.

 

Climb out the window, then roll the window up with the key. Don't know whether this is any better than climbing out the back.

 

I forgot I could do that. Good call. Still a bad situation. Wonder what the stealer will ask to re-seat both cables.

 

possible both doors were just iced/frozen shut? (I was stuck inside my blazer a few times in upstate new york after driving for a while in freezing rain, had to climb out another door, and I tried pushing REALLY hard to break it free)

 

Won't unlock w/ 2 pulls on the door handle? If not the latch links, BC1 would be a suspect.

 

Under the rear seat, in the middle, just about as far back as you can reach with your fingertips, you'll find a manual release cable for the rear hatch.

Reading post #1 - its like a story about a guy stuck in a convertible and can figure how to get out.

 

How do you roll up the windows with the key. I thought you could only roll them down.

 

Insert the key into the drivers door lock cylinder and turn. Keep holding the key and it will close everything and lock.

 

Freezing rain....
Bet the water ran around the door seals and froze....
If the door seals have not been treated with a slick cleaner....they water freezes to them and they work like a huge gasket GLUEING THE DOORS TO THE BODY...
If doors work when it warms up...this was the issue...
Some folks have suggested a very light coating of vasoline on the seals (but it can attract dirt)....but I have always found that silicone lube, sprayed on a rag and wiped is less messy and seems to work....heck I bet Amour-all would work.....
Yeah....do the trunk seals too...good it was not frozen too...
And a reminder....
Under the rear seat there is a cable you can pull....it will release the trunk latch...so it can be opened from the inside.

 

Well I have a thread from the start of winter,( 2 months after I purchased it) this had happened to me many times. I was hating the car. Stuck inside it about ten times waiting for someone to open my trunk. For about two weeks I had to go in my car through my passenger side door. Sometimes through the trunk. However by some miracle of god, it no longer does this and has opened fine since. Knock on wood, thank you lord. As far as why it fixed itself, I wish I knew because it's a very frustrating situation.

 

pics!!!

 

I will wait for the car to thaw out as BOTH doors no longer open...

Mini dealer wants $290 a side to re-attach the bowden cable per door. Not replace it, just open it and put it back on. so I am looking at $650 out the door for both doors to open again if thawing it out won't help.

Great.

 

If the issue is ICE...then the cables are fine.....
when it warms up...if the doors open up..lube the door seals as I mentioned previously....
If the seals were wet (or the foam rubber is even waterlogged..it happens)...and the temp drops....the door on ANY car will freeze to the body if the seals have not be treated....
If the cables ARE detracted or stretched or the mechanism is broken...then it USUALLY starts with random not opening..progressing overtime in most cases.
Since you NEVER mentioned having this issue before...I kinda bet they are frozen.
IMO it is not worth paying BMW/MINI 50-85$ for a bottle of their special weather strip stuff....so try some "typical dressings" found in the local auto store for rubber trim...they seem to fix this issue if used once every winter or two.....

Good luck...it would be VERY UNUSUAL to have BOTH fail SIMULTANEOUSLY (unless you have been having random issues in the past).
If it is happening randomly...if you CAN OPEN THE DOOR one last time...yanking the panel off the interior of an OPEN DOOR is SIMPLE....makes it an easy fix.

 

Good news, she thawed out and both doors work again. Damn seals freezing up!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I had this same problem but it wasn't because of the door seals. You could feel that the door handles (both inside and outside) felt different as if they weren't connected to anything. The next day when it warmed up everything was fine.

One time this happened after I had been driving the car for 30 minutes. I got in the car when it was cold with no problem but when trying to get out I couldn't open the door. I would expect it to have been the opposite as driving the car should have warmed up the insides of the door.

Glad yours is working again.

 

It's your MINI's way of telling you how it hates winters.

 

Or how much attention to the "little" details is important on a mini.....

 

Really strange because my mini is a champ in the winter, heats up fast and heated seats rock and always starts right up and the DSC system is incredible in the snow. I love my little car. It just has some odd quirks.

 

It is a female's way of saying your mine. Your Mini loves you and hates for you to leave her in such a state of cold frozen rain, sleet, ice.

Nice story and will keep that in mind as well as I will try the key fop thing to learn alternatives just so I have options - just in case.

Great post. And I bet after that story nothing like a good beer or something stronger?

Cars are not perfect, but out of all of the ones I have owned so far Mini has my heart. What can I say? It would be hard for me to dislike my Mini.

 

That is why we say a mini has "character"....and a Honda/Toyota is a appliance...aka a toaster!! Feels more human cause our cars are PERFECTLY IMPERFECT.

 

If I remember correctly, this is a known issue. It's happened to me a couple times, and definitely isn't the seal freezing. At some point (maybe with the facelift) MINI changed the handles, and I believe when under warranty they would replace the old handles with redesigned ones that don't let water inside. Someone on here used some sort of weatherstripping around the inside of the handle that supposedly did the trick.

 

Good thought ....but....
The handles changed in late 2004-early 2005....(my 2005 (( late 2004 production))was delivered with one set...then changed out at the first oil change).
The op has a 2006....