I was trying to turn my mazda 6 in a very tight space in a caravan car park when the steering wheel seemed to lock. i eventually got the car turned and straightened up. After a few minutes I turned the engine on again and the steering was fine. Can you tell me what might have caused this to happen?
Country: United KingdomMake: MazdaModel: 6 TS2 2.2 DYear: 2009Engine: deisel
Hellothis could be a hydraulic issue with the rack - if the oil ways in the pressure distribution valve are blocked you can prevent the rack from self centering with the wheel as it shouldif the power steering fluid is anything other than dark red - drain it off an replace itanother possibility is one of the suspension joints is badly worn and locking up at the extremes of motionthis can be checked as follows: jack the car up so the wheel is off the ground (you’ll need to do this for all 4 corners) and shake the tyre from top to bottom and from side to side (with someone holding the steering wheel on the front) there should be no play in either direction. Any play in 1 direction will usually require a joint to be replaced, if there’s play in both directions then the wheel bearing may be at fault. If theres play only up and down its the strut top mount - to find this one you have to shake the suspension strut it self up and down with the wheel off the ground - so you may need to remove the wheel to check this one.
Now with the car jacked up on that side with the wheel about 2 inches off the ground use a steel bar under the wheel and lever the wheel up and down slightly, you should be able to look at the end of the axle and see if the suspension arm is moving up and down separately to the axle.If so replace the bush
Experience: Mechanical Engineer BEng Hons22 years experience