Toyota Repair: driver side door wont close when frozen, door latch assembly, mechanic friend

Question
Hi Ted,
I'm in New Jersey driving a very well kept 2000 Toyota Solara with about 156,600 miles (4 cylinder, 2 door coupe).  I have no problem getting into my car but for some reason, when I leave for work in the morning (between 6 & 8 am), if it is cold enough (at least below 32 degrees), the driver side door won't close.  It just bounces back open.  I have no problem with the passenger side door.  I usually start the car from the passenger side, warm it up for about 10 minutes, and then run into the problem when I'm about to leave.  This doesn't happen when I want to go out anywhere at night, just in the morning.  I had a trusted auto mechanic friend take a look at it last weekend and he said one of the drains was fully clogged and the other was 3/4's clogged.  He cleared the drains and he said 1-2 cups of water came out.  He also put on some of that white goop to grease up the door latch thing.  It was good for a few days but it happened again this morning (Thursday, Dec 17th ~8am).  What's wrong with this door and what can I do to fix it?

Answer
Your'e probably going to have to replace that door latch assembly, it seems that it's hanging up after the door is opened and so won't catch on the striker plate when closing, the whit grease may not help it may be too thick, you could try something like WD-40 or some other rust penetrant or silicone based spray.