Steering wheel wouldnt turn!!

[Stuart]

Hey guys,

Im not the most clued up when it comes to cars and could do with some help,

After getting home from work last night I pulled into my drive, and had to reverse back to straighten up,

When I first pulled in and stopped I had full lock on, but when I tried to reverse and straighten the wheels the steering wheel wouldn’t turn, after I went forward and tried again it was ok, seemed fine on my (v.careful) drive to work this morning. Any idea what could have casued this? Or what/where to check.

I understand its hard to tell without looking at the car just wondered if maybe anybody had come across this problem before.

As always any help would be very much appreciated.

[stamford]

That would be a hard one to diagnose without checking it over. I'd suggest you get it jacked up on axle stands and check the steering lock and suspension over its full travel to make sure nothing is broken or binding up. That is an odd moment for sure, would suggest a limit was reached on the steering rack, but having not stripped one I wouldn't know if that were possible with the design. I would expect a mechanical limit was designed into the rack itself without it being able to lock up. Could be a spring seat binding somewhere perhaps creating a lock situation?

[Steves Cleenz]

Check the driveshafts (outer CV's) and/or your diff in your gearbox, makes sure there is not play in the shafts (up and down as they will go in and out)

[ZS]

Could it be the power stearing failed? so infact it wasn't impossible to turn, just a lot harder than you would have thought... a few revs (moving forward) kicks the pump back into gear and it works again... Could be the power stearing belt? or the pump... or check fluid??

[Craig]

If you need a hand mate, give me a shout im only up the road from you.

[Stuart]

Cheers guys,

i didnt get a chance to get a look at it as it was p-ing down last night, its parked up just now anyway, took it for a short drive last night and it doesnt seem to have done it again, hopefully get a look at the weekend, and craig i may just take you up on that offer at somepoint as im a bit of a newbie when it comes to working on cars, i can usually do the changing things over but when it comes to fault finding half the time i dont even know what im looking for!