Steering lockup in the mornings

[honkbeep]

This weekend we ran into a new problem with an early 2014 C-max. This car was in a wreck that bent the right tie rod. After replacing it and getting the car aligned, things worked fine. 

With the outside temperature at around 20 F, the steering wheel locked up completely. It felt as if something in the rack was totally jammed. There was a small clunk going between directions if power steering was on. Later, when the engine had run for several minutes and after jacking it up, it unfroze as if nothing ever happened, and the car could be driven.

The next test is to place a candle warmer underneath the right tie rod boot (which was cut open to make installation possible) and see if that unfreezes it - but my hopes aren't high. It most likely needs a steering rack.

On car-part.com, there is a new late-2014 focus/C-max steering rack that shows lack of interchange with older cars. They are cheaper. It seems likely that they fail less often. Does anyone know if a newer steering rack could be fitted?

 

Thanks!