Charge Port Door Frozen

[Theo1000]

I have always put a little WD-40 on the gasket/seal of all my EV's and for that matter my ICE vehicles, right before winter hits. Reduces the the sticking issue to the very worst conditions. My lightning was parked outside on Sunday in 10f and freezing rain, admittedly not very heavy, but no sticking for me.

What also works for me with the door is a slow deliberate push in and release. Just rushing it sometimes won't unlatch for me.

Sponsored

 

[ddbrooke]

I have always put a little WD-40 on the gasket/seal of all my EV's and for that matter my ICE vehicles, right before winter hits. Reduces the the sticking issue to the very worst conditions. My lightning was parked outside on Sunday in 10f and freezing rain, admittedly not very heavy, but no sticking for me.

What also works for me with the door is a slow deliberate push in and release. Just rushing it sometimes won't unlatch for me.

Good suggestions. As another person suggested the sweet spot seems to be on the strip above the latch. Since I try it I’ve had no trouble opening it.

 

[Traconesu]

I haven't been a fan of the charge port door since I first used it. The latching mechanism in particular feel flimsy. It usually takes me two or three pushes on it to either release or latch again. And I'm pretty sure that door has to be latched in order to move the truck.

So last night it rained and then the temperature plunged to zero so of course the charge port door is frozen shut. I don't need to charge but I want to plug in for preconditioning tomorrow.

I guess a hairdryer is my best bet but still I think the design of the door could be problematic on a trip where slush and melted water could jam that door up when I really need it to open.

Has anyone had problem with their door and what was your solution.

I haven't had mine freeze shut yet, but it's very difficult to open and close. I opened a chargeport door on a ford MachE the other day and they work great. I wish they would've used the same mechnism on the lightning.

 

[Traconesu]

Last night I was thinking about my snow blower and the fact that we have not have much to plow so far, thankful for that!!!

I have a couple of products to help reduce ice packing on the blower assembly, good old fashioned pam vegetable cooking spray and silicone spray.

I have not sprayed anything on the door hinge or the pin lock yet, as I park in the garage and Friday's rain only left a modest residual on the frunk hood and tonneau cover which are frozen solid now, not sure what kind of a mess it will make on the painted finish around the charge port door, I wonder if it would have any long term harm to the finish, at worst a major detailing task once spring melt has begun.

Someone mentioned spraying the door gasket with wd-40 but I believe a thin coat of car wax on the gasket would probably work fine.

 

[ddbrooke]

I haven't had mine freeze shut yet, but it's very difficult to open and close. I opened a chargeport door on a ford MachE the other day and they work great. I wish they would've used the same mechnism on the lightning.

Someone else on this thread mentioned that the sweet spot is on the logo strip right where the latch post is. I agree that if you push it there it works almost all of the time. That said, I still think it's a clunky mechanism for a high tech vehicle.

 

[luebri]

Someone else on this thread mentioned that the sweet spot is on the logo strip right where the latch post is. I agree that if you push it there it works almost all of the time. That said, I still think it's a clunky mechanism for a high tech vehicle.

Yep took me about a month to figure out the sweet spot. Not exactly elegant or robust design, which in a luxury truck you'd be looking for both!

 

[ddbrooke]

Yep took me about a month to figure out the sweet spot. Not exactly elegant or robust design, which in a luxury truck you'd be looking for both!

If you watch any of Sandy Munro’s videos he always talks about simplifying designs to make assemble easier with fewer parts. This latching mechanism has a bunch of flimsy parts and alignment has to be dead on for it to work. I think they assigned this one to an intern to make them feel like they were part of the team

 

[Pjlightning]

Yep took me about a month to figure out the sweet spot. Not exactly elegant or robust design, which in a luxury truck you'd be looking for both!

Anyone have a picture they can post with an arrow to the sweet spot on the door ?

If I find it I’ll put a sticker or something on it to remember.

thanks!

 

[jazzmanmonty]

What I did at work a couple weeks back when we had freezing rain is i took a slice of a plastic grocery bag and let it overlap around the outside of the charger door. When i got home after work, i was able to open no problem. Any frozen ice flaked off easily when i moved the plastic. Not pretty, but cheap and effective. Next time though, i will double up the plastic just to make it a bit easier to grab onto without tearing.

 

[luebri]

Anyone have a picture they can post with an arrow to the sweet spot on the door ?

If I find it I’ll put a sticker or something on it to remember.

thanks!

 

[ddbrooke]

I posted this in another section of this forum but thought it may be of interest to some of you. I don’t like the idea of being plugged in overnight in the rain and snow so I got the phone camera clamp from Amazon for $10 and attached a piece of plexiglass to it. It works great and keeps all of the door mechanisms from get water on them and perhaps prevent more freezing issues.

 

[Pjlightning]

thanks!

dead center below the “0”
on the Lariat, Etc stripe badge




Much appreciated!

 

[Crash McBang]

Has anyone had problem with their door and what was your solution.

I ordered a charge hood made of clear plastic and removed the rubber magnets - they were weak.

I slid in five epoxy coated 60x10x5 neodymium magnets into the pocket where the rubber magnets were held.

Then I glued a thin strip of steel behind the charge port cover (the dark gray strip). The bar magnets stuck the cover to the door waay better than the rubber magnets.

I left the charge cover on for an overnight charge. We got 3-4" of snow and the cover held and kept the port as well as the door snow and ice free.

Now I don't have to clear snow and ice off the door+port and no crunching noises when I close the door! Woohoo!

I hope Ford makes the door flip UP insted of to the LEFT and adds a steel strip around the whole port, but I suspect the not-invented-here attitude is too strong in Dearborn...

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Was browsing the Ford site for what to spend my Fordpass points on and ran into this...

For electric vehicle owners that charge at EV charging points exposed to the elements, the Charge Port Weather Kit can help block rain, snow, ice, sleet, sand, and dust.

• Helps protect the charge port assembly from getting jam-packed with snow and ice in winter
• The easy to install Charge Port Weather Kit is a simple and effective outdoor charging solution
• Charge port Bag protects the Charge port door and can also be used to store your charge port cover when not in use
• Kit includes Charge Port cover, Charge port door bag and instruction sheet

https://accessories.ford.com/products/f-150-2023-charge-port-weather-kit-for-bev-lightning-only

Not sure it keeps it from freezing shut or if it has to be removed every time. But figured I'd share..

 

[Rbert]

Yes, the charge port door feels cheap, latches and unlatches on the first, second or third try and icing is an issue. One would think the engineers at Ford could have debugged this issue during product development. If I remember correctly it gets cold in Detroit, rain, snow, freezing rain etc.
My charge port door latch froze open during freezing rain. The latch pin, door and port housing were iced up solid. This needs to be improved in future builds. I shouldn’t have carry a heat gun around to be able open or close the charge port door in freezing conditions.