Hey guys,

Temperature: -39 *C
Conditions: 6 inches of freshly blown snow on teh bald prairie

Its been pretty ugly here for the last few days. Temperatures have dropped and we had one heck of a blizzard.

Anyways, I started my truck this morning to run into town for some fuel. Truck startly beautiful with block heater plugged in, sitting in my unheated shop. So I let it run for a half hour, then back out of the shop, 4x4 my way out of the yard and head down the gravel road. I have 3 miles of gravel to get to the highway, and every 100 yards or so there was a 2 foot snow drift, so I took my time and busted through them till I got to the highway. As approaching the highway I went to brake, the pedal felt like someone stuck a block of wood under it! So I applied more and more pressure until finally I think I was literally standing on the brake, then it gave and the brakes grabbed and the ABS kicked in as I nosed out onto the highway. Luckily nobody was coming and I was not traveling very fast.

Once turning onto the highway, I noticed the steering seemed to stick, and with a little more pressure turning the steering wheel, it would free itself and then seemed to operate fine for the remainder of the trip.

This all had me a little concerned by now, so I parked the truck in my old mans heated garage for an hour, it melted off a bit, then I drove it home all seemed fine.

Had anyone else had this problem before? Out of all the vehicles I have driven, I have never had one "freeze up" like this before! I checked around the disc pads and it didn't seem like there was any ice or snow interfering with their operation. Same with the steering assembly. My next thought was the brake fluid and the powersteering fluid. Could these fluids partially freeze and cause these problems? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

I'm not a tech so this is nothing more than a couple of thoughts. I've had my 97 F50 steering do the same thing when it's cold out (Minnesota) frees up the more it gets used, warms up the fluid? As far as the brake pedal feeling like it's solid first guess power brake booster. Possibly moisture frozen in the hose that once warm up allowed the booster to perform normally?

 

I have decided to take the truck into my dealership and have them replace the power steering fluid and the brake fluids. I do not want to cause an accident, somebody could be seriously injured. They can further diagnos the problem from there. Thanks for you help!

 

I believe both brake and power steering fluids are hygroscopic, meaning they will absorb water from the air. If you check you power steering fluid and break fluid often this can let water in. It wouldn't be bad to change those fluids out. But my bet is you just had some ice buildup from driving through the snow drifts and nothing more.

 

Let us know what ford says. 07 with 15,000 km and had the very same experience yesterday. Very hard brake pedal,stiff steering and truck felt tight when coasting,