Key won't turn, steering locked up

[jdizzle262]

Yesterday, my 2001 Hyundai Sonata's steering wheel locked up and the key wouldn't turn, despite efforts to jiggle the wheel and key at the same time. The right front tire was in snow (the left front was not), so I got under the car with a snow scraper and banged the snow out of the wheel well and from the ground around the tire. This seemed to do the trick, and I was able to get the car started.

Later, I (perhaps stupidly) parked in the same spot (it was either park there, or run the risk of the car getting hit from being too far out into the street). I now find myself in the same situation, but can't seem to remedy it. I've removed all the snow from the wheel well and all the snow surrounding the tire using hot water and salt. The tire is basically suspended in the air by a small-ish chunk of ice that won't melt.

Any ideas? If I could get the car in neutral I'd do that and push it out of the snow, but I can't do that without the key turned. As far as I can tell there is no shifter override.

Thanks!

 

[chad8]

get someone with a truck and a tow strap (or a tow truck) to move you back a bit. That should give your wheel some room to move and get the key to work.

 

[sciphi]

Have you tried to turn the wheel to the lock as hard as you can while turning the key? Sometimes turning the wheel farther to the lock helps free the key interlock in the steering column. Muscling the wheel like this can be hard.

 

[jdizzle262]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
Have you tried to turn the wheel to the lock as hard as you can while turning the key? Sometimes turning the wheel farther to the lock helps free the key interlock in the steering column. Muscling the wheel like this can be hard.


I've tugged on it pretty hard, but am afraid that if I tug any harder I'll break the steering wheel.

 

[onion]

There really isn't much I can tell you here. When the key won't turn, that usually means there's tension on the steering wheel. And I don't know why, but in my experience imports are more prone to this.

The only fix is to pull on the steering wheel while trying to turn the key. Sometimes it's hard to tell which direction the tension is in... and therefore which direction you need to turn the wheel. Might be helpful if you have somebody else keep tension on the key trying to turn it 'on', while you use both hands to try working the steering wheel hard in both directions.

Or wait for the snow to melt?

 

[jdizzle262]

Originally Posted By: onion

Or wait for the snow to melt?

Haha, I might be waiting a while!

I've also heard that spraying some WD-40 in the ignition cylinder can sometimes help things. Don't have any of that, but I do have some lock deicer and lubricant (contains isopropanol and carnation white mineral oil). Think spraying a bit of that in the ignition would hurt it?

 

[onion]

I don't know enough about a Hyundai to give you much opinion on that. If it's a plain key with no resistor-chip or various security-gizmos... then I don't see what it would hurt. But if it uses anything more than a plain key, I wouldn't do it.

 

[jdizzle262]

The lock deicer did the trick!!!

 

[MrCritical]

Be sure the front wheels are straight when you turn off the ignition. That may help.

 

[dwendt44]

Had a similar problem years ago.
If it happens again, or repeatedly.
The 'pin' or 'finger' that slides up to lock the steering wheel was dry and won't move easily. Had to have steering wheel removed and a dab of grease was put on the pin. Problem solved for a good deal of money.

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: jdizzle262
The lock deicer did the trick!!!


How did you get ice in the ignition switch?

 

[chad8]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
Originally Posted By: jdizzle262
The lock deicer did the trick!!!


How did you get ice in the ignition switch?

probably from a frosted key that got snow on it from the manual locks outside.