Car Trouble

Ok so i was driving the plymouth voyager to work, and it was totally fine. Then when i got out of work i got in the car and the wheel must have been really loose so i accidently bumped it and it was completely upside down and it was locked in place. So then i tried to turn on the car, but then the ignition was locked too. I tried to also turn the key back (like turn the key towards me) and that didnt work either. So both my steering wheel and my igniton was locked in place. And i had to get my car towed to a shop by my house and had to pay close to $800-$900 dollars (well my parents payed for it for now because they kno that its not my problem). Has this ever happened to any of you? if so what did you do? if this happens again to me, i dont feel like getting it towed...i want to know if there is some way to fix the problem without getting it towed.
Also what kinds of stories do you guys have with car trouble? like have you ever got it towed or has it ever broke down on you while you were driving? what did you do?

[sanddrag]

Sounds like just the steering lock to me which is a normal function of every car. Did you try fiddling with turning the ignition ad the wheel at the same time to unlock it. I accidently lock my wheel all the time, maybe once per week but all it takes is a little jiggling of the ignition (with the key in there) and the wheel to unlock it. Of course it is possible that your steering lock malfunctioned and wouldn't let you unlock it no matter what. That is probably the more likely case. Does anyone know how those things work anyway? Would disconnecting and reconecting the battery reset it?

EDIT: I just read the "really loose" part. Yeah, that's not normal. Something must have broken. Maybe even the steering box (or rack and pinion) or the steering shaft?

[Tristan Lall]

Without knowing if it was abnormally loose to begin with, it really does sound like it's just the anti-theft steering lock. The thing is, you drove it into work—so how could it have been broken? Did you do something especially violent when parking it?

Also, the fact that it cost over $800 USD to tow the car is insane, to put it mildly (unless it was a 250 km tow, or something). For comparison, it costs about that much to get a car shipped halfway across the continent (by trailer).

[KenWittlief]

It sounds like something came loose in the steering wheel, causing the lock to jam

Im assuming the $800 was to tow the car AND to fix it?

I had a '84 dodge van, and when it was about 8 years old the steering wheel started to feel loose, it had a lot of play

It didnt lock up like yours, but I had to pull the steering wheel off, and take half the steering column apart to get to 4 screws. Three were completely loose, and only the 4th was holding the whole thing together

why it came loose after 8 years of use? I have no idea.

do you know for sure if the door was locked when you got in? Maybe someone broke into the car and had tried to steal it, and broke your steering mechanism in the process. If so, your insurance might cover the damage (attempted theft).

[team222badbrad]

A few weeks ago my way home from work my Service Engine light came. At first thought It was something serious. My engine did seem to start funny.

What was really strange was that the car was just about to crank over to 100,000 miles. I guess it is true that you should change the spark plugs at 100 grand.

So I took it to AutoZone and they hooked it up to the computer for free and they said there was a misfire in cylinder 1.

I bought six Motorcraft spark plugs from them for $28, the original ones that the car uses.

The next day I went to A&A and bought six Autolite spark plugs from them for $9.

After removing the first spark plug from my car I realized that the cheap spark plugs did not have the correct threads.

I returned to AutoZone and returned the expensive plugs, after realizing I had been ripped, and asked what other options they had, so I found Bosch spark plugs from them for $13.

So after two pairs of incorrect or costly plugs I finally found correct, cheap plugs.

A week after replacing them the light came on again.

After coming on again, I rechecked all the plugs and found the spark plug in cylinder one was loose. The cylinder one spark plug is in the hardest one to get to in my car!

Anyway the moral of the story is to shop around for the CHEAPEST, CORRECT parts.

Also if your engine light ever comes on find an auto parts store, such as AutoZone, to see if they will tell you what the problem is for free.


I have a few other stories too, such as when my previous car died coming home from work at 2:30AM without a cell phone to call home.

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

Without knowing if it was abnormally loose to begin with, it really does sound like it's just the anti-theft steering lock. The thing is, you drove it into work—so how could it have been broken? Did you do something especially violent when parking it?

Also, the fact that it cost over $800 USD to tow the car is insane, to put it mildly (unless it was a 250 km tow, or something). For comparison, it costs about that much to get a car shipped halfway across the continent (by trailer).

haha no like i got it towed then i had to get it fixed at the shop...i think they did sumthin to the ignition and the steering wheel.

[Jay H 237]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Does anyone know how those things work anyway? Would disconnecting and reconecting the battery reset it?

Disconnecting and reconnecting the battery won't do anything (unless you want to reset trouble codes in the computer and wipe out your clock and radio preset memory). The ignition lock is mechanically activated by a small rod in the steering column. This feature was added to most vehicles around 1970.

Some standard shift vehicles also have an extra lever to press when you turn the ignition off and want to remove the keys. My 4 spd '81 Citation I used to have had this and so did the 5 spd '87 S-10 Blazer my father had. We never had any problems with them but it is possible for something to go wrong with that also causing ignition and steering wheel to not unlock.


The only time I ever got stranded was when the timing belt failed at 54,000 miles on the first car I ever owned, an '82 Omni. I had just driven 30 miles and was about a 1 1/5 miles from my house when the engine died. Talk about being lucky! I tried to get the car started but all it would do is "pop" while it turned over. It wanted to start but couldn't since it jumped time. At that time I didn't know what was wrong plus there was no warning before it quit. It was just like if I had turned the engine off. I walked home and my mother called AAA and the car was towed to a local repair shop where it stayed for a week until they were able to repair it.

There's been other breakdowns but all the other times I've been able to get the vehicles back home or to a repair shop.

My thermostat got stuck in my Mustang and was puking antifreeze so I pulled into a supermarket parking lot and waited for it to cool off. After it cooled I took the small Craftsman tool set I always keep in the back out and removed the thermostat in the parking lot. I replaced the gooseneck with as much as the gasket as I could salvage and went in the store and bought 8 gallons of spring water. I refilled the radiator and kept some as spare in case I needed it on the way home. It made it home 25 minutes later with no major problems, just seepage around the gooseneck from the "used" gasket.

When the transmission began to fail on my Caprice I was able to drive it carefully to the Chevy dealer. It just had a nice, distinct burning smell as it drove. I just had to manually shift it from 1 to 2 to D, plus it had no reverse. With the tranny being pretty much toast I didn't care about damaging it more by driving it.

I also was able to drive it to the dealer when the intake manifold gasket blew. I topped of the coolant and it made it there with the temp gage still reading on the cold side and some coolant still in the reservoir.
This is one reason I kept this car even after buying my Camry. My old Chevy has never let me down and refuses to outright die!

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Would disconnecting and reconecting the battery reset it?

only if your car was build by MicroSoft!

[Matt Attallah]

Hm...

SLop in the steering wheel? Bumped it? Locked in place?!

Dang - sounds like a good ole' messy job... When the steering wheel turned the 180* did it turn the wheels with it? If not I bet a U-Joint seperated or came off your rack & pinion? I would like to know what happened! Quite intresting...