Laid Up Cars: Electric Windows.

[Minigem]

My old beast, well not a bad motor and not that old, has been laid up for three months now and I have made sure that the battery has been kept up and the engine run occasionally. Well, as lockdown is being somewhat relaxed I went for a trip, no not with the silly b's bunging up the coastal towns and beauty spots but to visit my bank to pay off my balance of my credit card (I hate paying charges), buy some veggies at the local farm shop and buy some lettuce seeds and fertiliser for my veggie garden.

The gist of this post is that my electric windows did not work. Dammit! the car was hot and as the air intake for the air system just takes air from under the front scuttle. After a few miles on my trip possibly from all the vibration from the bumpy roads the windows eventually worked. I was dreading the thought of taking off all the door skins and freeing the internal gubbins.

So, if your old beast is sitting in your driveway , wind up the engine now and again just operate the electric windows to keep them free. I had to do the freeing job on my last car which had been laid up by the previous owner and it is a blighter of a job.

Keep safe everybody! 

[grendel]

yes the rubber seals sticks to the glass until they manage to break free.

[floydraser]

Tiny bit of silicone lubricant around the seals? By tiny I mean spray a small paint brush and use that to apply in the groove.

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3 minutes ago, floydraser said:

Tiny bit of silicone lubricant around the seals? By tiny I mean spray a small paint brush and use that to apply in the groove.

Thanks for that tip, will do. I suppose you are suggesting WD40?

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Not WD40.  Silicone lubricant can be brought as a spray or in a tube. Screwfix amongst others sell it.

[marshman]

Either that or bank online!!!!!

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32 minutes ago, marshman said:

Either that or bank online!!!!!

What! I would not touch online banking with a bargepole. Even my cards have the touch facility removed. I really do not need it.

[webntweb]

I too have avoided online banking, but as I have not been anywhere near a bank - or shop for that matter - for 11 weeks, I had to bite the bullet so I could pay my credit card bill.

 

[Poppy]

I've used on line banking for years. Paying credit card bills, various other bills etc by BACS.

However I would NEVER use my mobile for the purpose, only ever my home computer, and I ALWAYS use a different browser for the purpose, and I use that one for nothing else.

[floydraser]

3 hours ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

Not WD40.  Silicone lubricant can be brought as a spray or in a tube. Screwfix amongst others sell it.

Just looked at mine, it's by 3-in-1 and I probably got it from Halfords. I thinks cyclists use it so it could even be in supermarkets. It's good for any plastic lubrication.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

9 minutes ago, floydraser said:

Just looked at mine, it's by 3-in-1 and I probably got it from Halfords. I thinks cyclists use it so it could even be in supermarkets. It's good for any plastic lubrication.

WD40 is for Water Displacement, it is oil based product and it was the 40th attempt at finding the correct chemicals mix. Silicone lubricant is just that, a lubricant that doesn`t wash away easily whilst the 3in1 is another oil based product with a small amount of penetration chemical mixed in. The problem is the silicone stuff costs more and WD40 is a household name. 

[WherryNice]

3 hours ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

Not WD40.  Silicone lubricant can be brought as a spray or in a tube. Screwfix amongst others sell it.

If your car has any 'flocked' seals(furry)then don't use silicone on them, they will creak expletively! (we learnt this the hard way). If you do get silicone on them and creaking occurs, wash with soapy water.

Silicone is absolutely fine on rubber though.

[Bluebell]

My favourite silicon spray (as previously mentioned!)

[Smoggy]

Wd40 do lots of different lubes now, I use their dry ptfe spray a lot and that would be fine but leaves a white dust (the ptfe particles) easily wiped off though.

If you have pootled your diesel around town shopping for 2 months take it for a thrash or the dpf will clog.