Car steering locks

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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 2:38 pm

Does anyone know if they are purely mechanical or partly electric?
Yesterday I noticed that the steering lock didn't engage when I took the ignition key out. Today, the battery was flat.
So are the two connected? Could a faulty steering lock drain the battery? The battery is about 10 years old, so it could be just a coincidence.

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 2:47 pm

They're normally mechanic. That's why you can't turn the key while pulling on the steering wheel; via the key you can't exert enough force to retract the bolt when it's stuck between the lock and the steering wheel.

On newer cards with keyless entry systems (chip card instead of a key) they're electric. But they're not built in a way that they could drain the battery, even if they're stuck.

Maybe your lock is broken in a way that it doesn't shut off electricity? A mechanic should quickly find out, or if you've got a multimeter handy you can measure the current from the battery. Normally it's a few 100 milli-amps at most.

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 3:14 pm

Thanks. I charged the battery for an hour and it still wouldn't turn the engine over, so I'm sure it's dead.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Mr Tambourine Man wrote:

The battery is about 10 years old

That's a damn good service life out of a car battery.

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 3:56 pm

An hour may be way too short if you're using one of those 20 bucks chargers. If the battery is totally flat, a full recharge may take up to ten hours or more. As a rule of thumb, the battery will need to be about half full to start your car.

Can you turn the headlights on? If the battery's almost empty but otherwise okay, they should light up, though probably very dim. If nothing happens at all then the battery is probably dead. If the lights are okay but get dim when you attempt to start the engine, the battery's okay but needs recharging.

(Edited to agree with Pastor Frank.)

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 5:12 pm

I couldn't see them reflected off the garage door. No surprise with insufficient power for the starter solenoid to do more than click.
I'll leave it on charge overnight and see what happens. Either way, I'll replace it.

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:09 pm

They cost a lot more than the last one I bought over 10 years ago.
Twice the price of my first second hand car, bought 44 years ago. Sad

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 8:05 pm

answering on the original question: on newer cars it may be partly electric.
On older cars, the ignition lock is on the steering column, so it's easy to have the lock fully mechanic.
For example, newer Volvo's have the ignition key lock in the dashboard, to prevent knee injuries in case of a crash. In this case, you need an electrically activated mechanical lock.
Also cars with keyless drive (electronically coded key fobs do it this way.

If your battery was 10 years old (indeed very nice life span!) it's probably a mechanical lock.
Anyone still awake?

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 7:48 am

10 years is amazing unless its a Mazda Miyata being used in a cold climate. Those spiral wound batteries were OEM for a while and are still going. Otherwise, that's an incredible run.

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 2:13 pm

^^^
No, just an ordinary battery in a small Ford car.
It seems fine since an overnight charge, so I haven't yet fitted the new battery. The steering lock started working again, so I'm still not sure that the battery is the only problem.

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:51 pm

Low temperatures are the bane of batteries. First, the rate of electrochemical reaction falls hence the current supplied is also reduced. Secondly, condensation can form fairly low resistance paths between terminals (or other electrical components/wiring) and cause the battery to discharge to the point where it won't supply sufficient current to turn the starter.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

umm could you have an immobliser?
If the battery was flat it wouldn't work.
It that wee thing that bleep bleep bleeps after putting key in ignition, isolates electronics from spark plugs so car wont start, supposed to make it harder to hot -wire cars

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

PS my van wont start
Reckon flat battery as it's not been moved since the snows started here, it was parked in a side street then snowed in, I'd waited for it to thaw to consider moving it at all,
Think I'll be calling RAC in the morning as I cant figure out how to jump start it, theres signs saying no clips on it. Shocked