Windows freezing in the winter.

[Garstang]

Last winter my windows would not go back up after closing the door. For example when you open the door the window goes down a bit. Then goes back up when the door is shut. But at times it would not go back up. Has any one else had this happen. How do you fix this??

[Suberman]

Aerospace 303 on the rubber door seals will help. Water gets between the glass and the door seals. When it freezes the windows can stall. When it gets colder this shouldn't be a problem.

[Ben_G]

It's sort of annoying, but I bring my snowbrush in with me when I get out of the car.... that way, I could run the ice scraper across the window seal at the bottom before opening the door. Generally, I found that this would be enough to break any ice/window/rubber threesome that caused it to stick.

I haven't tried Aerospace 303 yet on the rest of the seals

[Migero86]

On one of my cars from my past that had frame-less windows I would rub ivory snow bar soap on the rubber and that worked, also used silicone based lubricant at one point on that rubber and it worked... I am sure the 303 would do the trick too.

[Taro]

I think you can get the dealer to disable the function entirely for you, but I haven't done it myself. Any negative side effects?

[thorlius]

Originally Posted by Garstang

Last winter my windows would not go back up after closing the door. For example when you open the door the window goes down a bit. Then goes back up when the door is shut. But at times it would not go back up. Has any one else had this happen. How do you fix this??

Mine did that a few times last year. It would disable the auto up/down function as well, and often the entire switch would stop working.

You'll learn the reset function pretty quickly:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19731
(See the third post)

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by Taro

I think you can get the dealer to disable the function entirely for you, but I haven't done it myself. Any negative side effects?

The auto drop is to protect the side glass from damage if closing the door with the window up. I doubt Subaru will let you disable this.

If the window is not dropping due to ice freezing at the bottom edge of the window then the electrics will simply engage the overload shut off and no damage will occur.

I keep the ice scraper/snow brush in the trunk. If you open the door before you brush off the snow the driver 's seat will get covered in snow as soon as the door opens. Snow in the trunk is not important by comparison.

[wparsons]

^^ The auto drop is more to get a better seal than to protect the glass. If you look at the seal area, there's lots of clearance for the window even without it dropping down.

I only had mine freeze up once last year, and it was after being buried in snow for a couple days. I was house sitting for a relative and had been driving their car when we got puked on.

[Rayme]

To the OP : http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...le+auto+window

Originally Posted by Suberman

The auto drop is to protect the side glass from damage if closing the door with the window up. I doubt Subaru will let you disable this.

If the window is not dropping due to ice freezing at the bottom edge of the window then the electrics will simply engage the overload shut off and no damage will occur.

I keep the ice scraper/snow brush in the trunk. If you open the door before you brush off the snow the driver 's seat will get covered in snow as soon as the door opens. Snow in the trunk is not important by comparison.

The windows do not rub when disabled. The problem is when the window freezes the computer resets itself and when you shut the door the windows is not totally up as it has time to roll down before it stops, so you have to reset the window by rolling it down and doing the little sequence, but you can't because...the window is frozen. And it freezes from inside. There's been an occurence of a guy here who the window froze and didn't notice it came down 3-4mm, he came back to his car later in the day and it snowed inside!

I can tell you, one Canadian winter and you'll want to disable them before christmas time

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by Rayme

I can tell you, one Canadian winter and you'll want to disable them before christmas time

I disagree, mine only froze once and the car had been buried in wet snow for a couple days then froze up solid. Under normal day to day conditions it was 100% fine every day.

[i_4got]

Originally Posted by Suberman

Aerospace 303 on the rubber door seals will help. Water gets between the glass and the door seals. When it freezes the windows can stall. When it gets colder this shouldn't be a problem.

So where should I apply this stuff? The bottom part of the window? I'm not sure what "rubber seal" refers to.

Has anyone had any issues from not resetting the windows after freezing? I reset every single time the windows froze last year, and I got kind of sick of it. My window froze once earlier last week and I didn't bother resetting it, so when the door is closed, the window is now not shutting fully. There's no big gap between the window and the rubber so I don't think rain or snow can get in. Has anyone had issues with this?

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by i_4got

So where should I apply this stuff? The bottom part of the window? I'm not sure what "rubber seal" refers to.

Has anyone had any issues from not resetting the windows after freezing? I reset every single time the windows froze last year, and I got kind of sick of it. My window froze once earlier last week and I didn't bother resetting it, so when the door is closed, the window is now not shutting fully. There's no big gap between the window and the rubber so I don't think rain or snow can get in. Has anyone had issues with this?

I applied it to the entire door seal, both doors. The upper portion is what freezes to the glass. No need to apply anything to the glass.

[Ben_G]

Originally Posted by Suberman

I applied it to the entire door seal, both doors. The upper portion is what freezes to the glass. No need to apply anything to the glass.

So my window froze this morning...and for sure it wasn't the window-to-body seal since the door was open and you could see/hear the motor trying to lower the window. It was frozen at the window-to-door seal (the one that is fuzzy on the inside) at the base of the window.

Also annoying.... realizing that the window was still frozen when I got to the parking entrance and having to open the door to get the entrance ticket.

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by Ben_G

So my window froze this morning...and for sure it wasn't the window-to-body seal since the door was open and you could see/hear the motor trying to lower the window. It was frozen at the window-to-door seal (the one that is fuzzy on the inside) at the base of the window.

Also annoying.... realizing that the window was still frozen when I got to the parking entrance and having to open the door to get the entrance ticket.

That happens to every car. Unfortunately there's no fix apart from an ice scraper.

I elected to keep the snowbrush in the trunk for this reason.

Several cars with frameless windows have this "feature".

Actually, I wonder if putting Rain x on the outside of the glass might reduce this problem? Anybody tried that?