so im in NJ and it feels like 5 degrees right now and my hands are about to fall off..

anyway, i warmed the car up to 3 bars this morning, then proceed to back up.. when i was trying to steer the car to the left, it seemed like it was 'locked' .. so i moved forward again to my spot, then backed up again and tried to steer to the right.. STILL NO GOOD i would say the steering wheel rotates about 30 degrees on both directions, but then 'locks up'. and YES, i have the key in the steering column

my question is - has this ever happened to any of you? could this all be because of the freezing weather outside?

 

Sorry, that's never happened to me before. I'm in great SoCal weather though. Bump for you. G/L.

 

Sounds like something is lodged in the steering gear. Maybe ice? You can idle the car for a bit and see if something melts or thaws maybe, but you may need a tow....

 

Can't way I've ever had that happen.
I agree though. You should let it run for a while and then see if it melts anything that might have been frozen.

 

On the end of the steering racks are rubber boots. Maybee some water got inside and froze up? Anythings possible. Heres some pics of a rack i had laying around.


I have had water get in my rack and ruin it before but never frozen. Maybee you can pull the boots and inspect them?