I haven't seen the car myself, but I'm about to drive to another city and try and repair and take home my friend's car.

Drove fine, and then after parking it, he restarted it (the car runs and idles), but the steering wheel is still locked.

I haven't yet put my own eyes on it, but I wanted to know if anyone had some preliminary advice. I'm going up with my set of tools and am fully prepared to take the steering wheel off to get to the bottom of it.

Any ideas?

 

This may not be a good thing. But first, I would try a different key. It is unusual that the key will turn and start the car, but not unlock the steering wheel. The common problem is pressure on the steering wheel into a slight turn and the key will not turn until the steering wheel is jiggled to release that pressure.

Maybe try moving the gear shift too, it is connected by a cable to the steering wheel lock.

But the bad news is if it is the internal lock mechanism, it is a bear of a job to replace, there are two large hardened steel bolts that must be drilled out, I have heard it takes several drill bits per bolt to do it and sometime the windshield will be taken out to get leverage on those bolts and make the job quicker.

Maybe removing the cover around the wheel, you will need torx heads, allen hexes, and see if lubricating the mechanism helps.

Good luck, it might just be something extremely simple.

DanR '94 964 360,000 miles (126,000 miles on the new engine)