I have owned a G35 in the past. Just got a 2013 G37x. Let me explain what happened. My aim is to find out what causes it to happen and how to prevent it

after picking it up. I drove it about 400 miles. Then it sat for About 3 days without me using it because I walk to work. I went to start it and it didn’t start. Battery was fine, everything turns on. The brakes and steering were locked. I checked out several threads and some people had the same issue. One solution was to depress the brakes hard, but that didn’t work. I sat there freaking out, texting my brother who builds jeeps. He told me to wiggle the steering while depressing the brake. I did that and it started right up.
I took it to get checked and the mechanic told me my calipers were locking. Not saying that’s the cause of it not starting.
my question is, what would have caused the brakes and steering to lock? Anything to do with the steering control unit? Is this common?

 

Can you elaborate on what you mean by saying "the brakes....were locked?

Do you mean to say that you could not press the brake pedal down or that the brake pedal would not move when you tried to push it down (ie. to start the engine)?

 

[QUOTE=ILM-NC G37S;4276804]Can you elaborate on what you mean by saying "the brakes....were locked?

Do you mean to say that you could not press the brake pedal down or that the brake pedal would not move when you tried to push it down (ie. to start the engine)?

yes. I could not depress the brakes to start the engine. The steering wheel was also stiff and unable to move

 

If your brake pedal is hard to press down- especially after the engine has been shut off for some time- then likely your brake booster is not holding a reserve vacuum.

Here is a simple test you can perform especially since you do not drive your car daily. You can only do this test after your car has sat for a day or more:

¹) Get in, BUT DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING and DO NOT START ENGINE!
²) Listening carefully, give the brake pedal a quick push to the floor, do you hear a "whoosh" noise? Or, is the pedal hard as a rock?

It is virtually impossible for your brake pedal to "lock" unless something is physically blocking it from moving. Without vacuum assist, it takes A LOT of force to push the pedal down. My guess is that your brake booster has a small vacuum leak that, after a few days, causes the pedal to firm up. After you run the above test we will know more.

Do not worry about steering at this point.

 

Thank you for the info. Yes, now I hear the whoosh and it’s easy to depress. I guess I used the wrong choice of words for “Ickes”. But it was definitely firm that day. It has been starting just fine ever since.

 

Give it a few days and see what happens. Remember, even with a firm pedal, you should still be able to push the pedal to the floor and start the engine-it will give your legs a good workout, but it can be done.