98 i30 won't start..steering lockup

[infii30owner]

hi..last night all of a sudden my 98 i30, 177k miles, won't start up. it steering wheel locked. when i started the engine it wouldn't even start. not even a click. i got new starter (acdelco part) last year. alternator is after market (from ebay) that i got 3 years ago. battery is from costco and only an year old.

when i moved the car a bit front and back, the steering wheel loosened up and i could start last night. after i started the car i noticed that the clock was reset, trip A and trip B were reset. sort of like it lost the battery connection or something. however, after i came home i turned off the engine and when i tried to start it, i had the same symptom. it won't start. what could be going on? i could turn off the car with remote last night..so battery is probably ok.

any help is appreciated.

thank you.

[WDRacing]

I've had my steering wheel lock prevent my car from starting on my BMW, I just turn the wheel manually, against the lock while turning the key to start. Usually fires right up. Course that doesn't explain your loss of power and resetting of stuff.

Do you have a multimeter?

[infii30owner]

thanks for your response.

looks like loose battery terminals..i hope that is it and its not alternator or anything else.

how do i test it with multimeter next time?