After cold start steering freezes

[Bffy]

After a night of sitting outside in 0°c starting the jeep giving it a couple min to warm up I jump in crank the wheel to turn And the steering will lock up or freeze. Then after that it's fine till the next morning. Had steering box and update done over a year ago any ideas?

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[AmishMike]

Start simple, check the fluid level. Also look for any kind of condensation, possible but not probable that there is water in a line.
Not something on the actual ‘steering lock’ when key is off is it?

 

[Bffy]

I don't think it's fluid it was changed and is very clean it only happend after I had my steering box replaced says they did an update as well. Going in on Tuesday for that and a horrible tick

 

[Kevin_D]

Not something on the actual ‘steering lock’ when key is off is it?

The steering on the JT/JL doesn’t lock.

Kevin

 

[j.o.y.ride]

After a night of sitting outside in 0°c starting the jeep giving it a couple min to warm up I jump in crank the wheel to turn And the steering will lock up or freeze. Then after that it's fine till the next morning. Had steering box and update done over a year ago any ideas?

Ah I see your problem. It's freezing temperatures in the first week of November. Time to move unless your name rhymes with Grain Wetzky.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The steering on the JT/JL doesn’t lock.

Kevin

Yeah, what he said.........

Jeep removed the steering lock years ago. People wanted to flat tow them behind motor homes, whatever.

Did it LOCK, or was it just hard to turn due to lack of power assist? These are electro-hydraulic systems, you can actually check the operation of the PS pump using an app like jscan.

It may be that it's cold and not responding immediately to the signal that you are moving the steering wheel. If there's no effort to turn, it's not going to be cranking out volume to build pressure and assist the turn. The pump isn't always running full output, unlike your grandfather's 70 Camaro.

 

[Bffy]

I believe there's some kind of delay in the pump I messed up in my description of It. But that delay was only noticeable after that box and update over the last year has gotten worse.. not necessarily when it's cold outside but when the jeep has been shut off overnight. One morning I jumped in started made a turn out of a parking lot while moving I couldn't move the steering wheel at all for a second and almost when straight over a curb. It's happen once since then now I start it and jump in crank it a couple times and it seems to work so far but who knows when it decides to stop again.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I believe there's some kind of delay in the pump I messed up in my description of It. But that delay was only noticeable after that box and update over the last year has gotten worse.. not necessarily when it's cold outside but when the jeep has been shut off overnight. One morning I jumped in started made a turn out of a parking lot while moving I couldn't move the steering wheel at all for a second and almost when straight over a curb. It's happen once since then now I start it and jump in crank it a couple times and it seems to work so far but who knows when it decides to stop again.

I'll dig through my stash of TSBs, but for some reason I seem to recall a TSB that mentioned lost communication with the steering and some sort of freeze-up. Maybe I'm thinking of the GM one with Cadillac - but it seems to me there's one for Jeep as well. GM has had this issue - while driving down the highway.

 

[GoatPowder]

What's your fluid level at?

Any drips?

A small leak will cause some minor aeration that'll self bleed after the pump runs for a minute

 

[ShadowsPapa]

If the reservoir, line and pump all have fluid and there's a leak - how would air get in to displace the fluid?
Of all my years in hydraulics, that's the first time I've seen it said that air gets in and displaces heavier fluid.
(I've had a whole lot of hydraulic systems with leaks)
You would need a lower pressure in the system to allow air to get in.
The weight of the fluid in the reservoir and hose leading down to the pump would seem to preclude air getting in.

 

[Bffy]

What's your fluid level at?

Any drips?

A small leak will cause some minor aeration that'll self bleed after the pump runs for a minute

Just under the full when cold line. Weird thing when the weather dipped well below zero it stopped and just has a minor hesitation when started now. All started after having my box replaced and update done

 

[GoatPowder]

If the reservoir, line and pump all have fluid and there's a leak - how would air get in to displace the fluid?
Of all my years in hydraulics, that's the first time I've seen it said that air gets in and displaces heavier fluid.
(I've had a whole lot of hydraulic systems with leaks)
You would need a lower pressure in the system to allow air to get in.
The weight of the fluid in the reservoir and hose leading down to the pump would seem to preclude air getting in.

The systems aren't a perfect vertical tube, there's cavities where air can trap. There's plenty of gearboxes with bleeder screws at their high points.... But, admittedly, yeah that would mean his new gearbox is leaking at the sector shaft so unlikely, I'm just spitballing.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The systems aren't a perfect vertical tube, there's cavities where air can trap. There's plenty of gearboxes with bleeder screws at their high points.... But, admittedly, yeah that would mean his new gearbox is leaking at the sector shaft so unlikely, I'm just spitballing.

LOL - gotcha.

Anyway - you may or may not know, that both Jeep and GM have "known issues" with loss of PS assist.
These are EHPS - electro-hydraulic power steering. They communicate over the CAN Bus.
And - there are periodic losses of this communication. It's a whole lot worse with GM/Cadillac, etc. but there are TSBs related to loss of PS assist on the Gladiator.
Mine actually for a SPLIT SECOND as it started and did POST gave me a CEL and investigation showed - CAN Bus communication issues, and I felt the steering wheel wasn't normal for just that tiny part of a second.
The first thing I'd do in a case of loss of the EHPS assist is to look for codes that may not have set the CEL.
It seems to me that jscan has the ability to test ps pump operation......... I'll have to dig to see if I can find that.

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