Steering lock while driving
05-06-12, 11:03 PM
#1
Steering lock while driving
Car: 1988 convertible
The past couple days I've done a lot of driving and this scenario happened 3 times.
Came to a stop, and then once I start driving again if I initiated a turn the steering would lock up for a fraction of a second and when giving the wheel a hard jerk I could hear a clunk from under the dash, steering freed up, and then the car would be fine for the rest of the drive.
There's no evidence of someone screwing with the key cylinder.
The lock up isn't just as though the power steering failed because it actually 'locks' as opposed to just getting harder to turn. The car is not stalling at this point and no warning lights come on.
I have the stock security system functioning but I don't think it's related since I don't hear the beep or see the 'security' light in front of the armrest flickering.
Any ideas or anyone who has experienced the same thing? I've got some troubleshooting to do!
The past couple days I've done a lot of driving and this scenario happened 3 times.
Came to a stop, and then once I start driving again if I initiated a turn the steering would lock up for a fraction of a second and when giving the wheel a hard jerk I could hear a clunk from under the dash, steering freed up, and then the car would be fine for the rest of the drive.
There's no evidence of someone screwing with the key cylinder.
The lock up isn't just as though the power steering failed because it actually 'locks' as opposed to just getting harder to turn. The car is not stalling at this point and no warning lights come on.
I have the stock security system functioning but I don't think it's related since I don't hear the beep or see the 'security' light in front of the armrest flickering.
Any ideas or anyone who has experienced the same thing? I've got some troubleshooting to do!
05-07-12, 10:11 AM
#4
Get the front end in the air, just tires off the ground will do.
Start at the rack end and observe as "an assistant" ("assistant"= "tool that everybody but me seems to own") spins the wheel lock to lock.
It's probably going to be that intermediate piece with the splined slip/u-joints...either loose or bad u-joints.
Start at the rack end and observe as "an assistant" ("assistant"= "tool that everybody but me seems to own") spins the wheel lock to lock.
It's probably going to be that intermediate piece with the splined slip/u-joints...either loose or bad u-joints.
05-07-12, 02:22 PM
#5
Well I found out what was jamming my steering. Took a look under the hood and first thing I noticed was my oil filler cap was missing....strange.
I looked around and found it sitting on the little ledge (the one that runs horizontally about halfway down the strut tower) right beside the steering column u-joint... so when the filler cap first came off, the bolt on the steering column was hitting the filler cap and wasn't allowing me to turn.
So the Mazdaspeed filler cap from newer 'speed 3's apparently doesn't fit well enough to the FC oil filler tube, even though I could secure it to hand-tightness and I've been using it for 2 years. I just went back to the stock cap and all should be fine.
I looked around and found it sitting on the little ledge (the one that runs horizontally about halfway down the strut tower) right beside the steering column u-joint... so when the filler cap first came off, the bolt on the steering column was hitting the filler cap and wasn't allowing me to turn.
So the Mazdaspeed filler cap from newer 'speed 3's apparently doesn't fit well enough to the FC oil filler tube, even though I could secure it to hand-tightness and I've been using it for 2 years. I just went back to the stock cap and all should be fine.
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