Steering wheel got jammed during snow slalom while driving.
It's now 4 days that I've been on a snow slalom and drifting driving courses. For 3 days I drove a Honda Civic (FWD, manual) and I finally decided to take my own car. Everything was fine for 30 minutes of slalom (drifting between cones in snow). After that my driving instructor asked me to do circles (donuts) around a cone.
I drove about 15 circles (donuts) around a cone when the steering wheel became extremely heavy and jammed. It was as if it went to Sport Plus Plus Plus Plus Plus Plus mode - it was stuck sideways and I couldn't turn anymore. I kept the ignition on and after about 20 seconds it became normal again. I tried 2 more circles and steering got jammed again. After that I stopped for 1 minute, it came back to normal and I continued drifting between cones (no more circles) - the steering wheel jammed again. At this point I left it for 1 more minute, steering wheel came back to normal and I left the driving course and drove home. It almost felt as if something is overheating and jams the steering wheel and goes away after a short period of cooling down. Nonetheless it sounds extremely dangerous in some road situations and when tracking your car when there are many turns.
Please help with any input may have from experience or knowledge:
- What is this steering wheel jam? It is not like the steering wheel lock when the key or ignition is not on - it's different. The steering wheel becomes so heavy that it's impossible to move it anymore.
- When parking in my garage, I noticed that a rattling/dinging noise when the steering wheel is turned maximum left or right. It's not loud, but I don't remember hearing it in the past.
- Night vision became very dark and unclear on default settings. Previously I could easily see the road and other objects in night vision, the way it is on YouTube videos. Now almost pitch dark, I can barely see a road and only see pedestrians in infra-red.
Does #1 and #2 issue sound like a temporary hydraulic pump failure? Please help with any advice you can have. It's a rare issue that is difficult to reproduce, especially for BMW service. Thanks in advance!