How to avoid locking steering wheel on hill

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by SailinAway

So that 2" of movement transfers the weight of the vehicle to what, exactly?

The parking pawl in your transmission. A little bit of metal designed for that function.

Originally Posted by SailinAway

And why is the problem of the locked steering wheel worse when the wheels are turned hard to one side?

Also, what is exactly this "pin" that can break if you turn the steering wheel too hard? I had to put a frightening amount of pressure on the steering wheel to unlock the ignition.

It's an anti-theft device intended to keep the steering wheel locked if the car is "hotwired" and started by some method other than turning the key switch. In the grand scheme of things, it's a weak mechanism. I've had to (legally) hotwire a car before when a friend lost their keys. A little bit of force ont he steering wheel breaks the pins, then a few back-and-forth turns of the wheel freed up any remaining bits of the interlock and the wheel moved freely.

The force is worse when your wheels are turned because the pin drops into position once the ignition is turned off. If that pin drops and then there is force on the steering wheel from the car coasting a bit you cause it to bind up. When the wheels are straight if the car moves that movement is not also trying to turn the steering wheel, so there is no binding.

Originally Posted by SailinAway

One thing that may have helped (not sure) is that I started the car remotely to see what would happen. That seemed to make a tiny improvement that worked, no idea why.

Your power steering pump was being driven by the engine, giving you assistive force in turning the wheel.

[LikeLakes]

Originally Posted by brk-lnt

I've had to (legally) hotwire a car before when a friend lost their keys. A little bit of force ont he steering wheel breaks the pins, then a few back-and-forth turns of the wheel freed up any remaining bits of the interlock and the wheel moved freely.

Dangerous to drive a car more than 10 ft. after doing that.

AAA or any other road service can get into a car in 90 seconds. I can't imagine intentionally breaking a wheel lock pin. JMO

[SailinAway]

Are there cases where it's impossible to unlock the steering wheel? What happens then?

[SailinAway]

brk-Int, thanks for educating me about the parking pawl, which I had never heard of. I found this:

"Most vehicle manufacturers and auto mechanics do not recommend using the transmission's parking pawl as the sole means of securing a parked vehicle, instead recommending it should only be engaged after first applying the vehicle's parking brake. Constant use of only the parking pawl, especially when parking on a steep incline, means that driveline components, and transmission internals, are kept constantly under stress, and can cause wear and eventual failure of the parking pawl or transmission linkage. The pawl might also fail or break if the vehicle is pushed with sufficient force if the parking brake is not firmly engaged."

I was once awakened by a call from the police at 6:00 a.m. telling me I'd better get outside pronto. My car had rolled down the driveway. It would have crossed the road and gone over the embankment on the other side were it not for the whiskey barrel planter I had just placed at the bottom of the driveway the day before! The car went up over the barrel which stopped it. No damage to the car. This is why I take the steep driveway seriously.

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by LikeLakes

Dangerous to drive a car more than 10 ft. after doing that.

AAA or any other road service can get into a car in 90 seconds. I can't imagine intentionally breaking a wheel lock pin. JMO

Imagine being a broke college student at 4PM on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and wanting to get on the road for the 3 hour drive home.

The car was a beater Escort whose value at any given time was primarily derived from the fill level of the fuel tank (and then at 1991 gas prices).

The car was not more dangerous to drive after this than it was at any other random point.

[LikeLakes]

Originally Posted by brk-lnt

Imagine being a broke college student at 4PM on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and wanting to get on the road for the 3 hour drive home.

The car was a beater Escort whose value at any given time was primarily derived from the fill level of the fuel tank (and then at 1991 gas prices).

The car was not more dangerous to drive after this than it was at any other random point.

I get that, and can picture being in the same situation. I was driving a beater in my college years and had some epic side of the road situations, so totally understand.

I guess mostly I didn't want anyone to think it was ok to break the wheel lock pin and drive away, definitely the potential for bad things to happen.

[SailinAway]

Update: I followed the suggestions here for the last 10 days and the problem has not happened again. Thanks to all!