2011 F150 Lariat 4x4 5.0

recently went on our honeymoon to New Mexico. in the mornings when it was 30 degrees or below, the steering would be locked. I would put it in drive, reverse, move back and forth, but the steering wouldn't move. it's done it on 8 different occasions so far. what really worries me is I'm driving and it's below freezing, i can feel it wanting to stick. Almost as if there is water in the power steering fluid, but i can't find anywhere to check it.

on the cold mornings, I'll let it run for at least 20 minutes to warm up before i try moving it. the only way to free the steering wheel and get it to working is to GENTLY turn the wheel to the left and right. after about 5 minutes of doing this, it seems to break free?

anyone else having an issue? or know how i can start diagnosing? with the electric power steering, it's a bit different than normal

 

You can't find the power steering fluid reservoir to check it because there isn't one. From 2011 up only the trucks equipped with the 6.2 have the traditional hydraulic power steering with a pump and reservoir. The 3.7, 3.5 eco and the 5.0 all have EPAS (Electronic Power Assisted Steering) and there is no pump or reservoir, just an assist motor attached to the column.

It sounds like your EPAS unit is failing, take it to the dealer and get it checked out.

 

Its screwy because in warm weather (over 35 degrees) i have 0 problems. it feels JUST like the fluid (IF there was any) is frozen and it takes a long time to warm up.

Also, truck has 65000 miles on it

 

Im pretty sure that the electric motor is on the rack and not on the column

 

Crash_Lucky13,

Did you ever find an answer to this problem? I have a 2012 F150 with about 200K miles and this conditions just started with the first freeze this fall. When i started the truck first thing in the morning I started to back out and the steering did not move. After a lot of cussing and complaining, I went out and the steering was fine. The temperature had also risen and the truck was in the sun. A few weeks later the temperature dropped again and I had the same results. I made the connection with temperature and the steering locking, and I found this website. With winter closing in, I have this problem every morning. This morning I had to let the truck warm up for about 45 minutes before the steering thawed, and this was at about 20 degrees. In central Illinois its about to drop below zero. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

My power steering went kaput - turned out to be rodent chewed wires.
Perhaps a relay got water in it that freezes it open?

 

Thanks Flash, but it is not a problem with the power steering. With the power steering out it is difficult to turn the wheel but you still can. In this case, the wheel will not turn. You can wiggle it a few degrees in each direction but that is just the play in the steering column. I think it might be some corrosion in the U joints on the intermediate column shaft. I found a similar problem in my internet search and they said you could get some corrosion in the joints and water will be absorbed by the corrosion then freeze. This locks the joints so the shaft can't rotate. I have a hard time believing that small amount of water can freeze the entire shaft but, I have sprayed some lubricant into the joints and it may have helped. It still froze Saturday night but it appeared to break free more easily but, that may have just been because it wasn't that cold. Now I will wait until tomorrow morning to see what happens. Later this week it is not supposed to get above freezing and I could be stuck.

 

1 degrees this morning and nothing ismoving.

 

10 degrees

 

I have an idea: Try disconnecting the wiring harness to the electronic rack the next time you anticipate it will happen. Yes, you will get some nasty gram codes, and you won't have assisted steering, but it might be the electronics themselves causing the motor to bind up thus causing frozen steering.

Without the power assist, you should still be able to move the steering wheel. Yes, it will be difficult, but it's no different than back in the old days of no power assisted steering.

While I don't recommend driving with an impaired vehicle, you can at least test out what is going on.

 

Thanks ManualF150. I will give that a shot. It is frozen now. If I pull the harness while it is frozen, do you think it will unlock or should I wait until it thaws.

 

My best guess is it should unlock. Put the truck in gear and roll back and forth while attempting to turn the wheel. See what it does.

 

It is still frozen and I had someone attempt to turn the wheel while I observed the steering column. The column rotated down to the pinion gear so it is not frozen in the column. I do not quite understand how the electric power assist works but is there a way the ball bearings could freeze and not allow the rack to move?

 

Interesting. How about if you jack up the vehicle, let it freeze and see what happens.

This is the strangest thing I've every heard of.

 

ManualF150, Thanks, its good to know its not just me that can't figure this out. I am trying to figure out how the ball screw assembly works. The only thing I can figure out is there could be some water in the ball screw assembly that freezes the *****. I can see how the ball bearing freezing could lock the system but how it his any different than steering with the power steering out? How you can steer if the power steering goes out.

Merry Christmas