jpv7774

Another victory for Club Lexus........ Congrats on getting things working properly again.

StanVanDam

Thanks to xtr3me for the pictures and details. For 2001-2003, it is a 10 minute job to replace the bushing (45768-60011, ~$2.00 USD). If you occasionally hear squeaking or if the movement seems wrong, take these steps to prevent the motor from failing:

Turn ignition ON, extend column all the way out, undo the bottom Philips screw, then turn the steering wheel all the way left, undo that Philips screw, same thing all the way to the right. Carefully pry apart the top and bottom covers with a taped flathead screwdriver, once they snap apart, top one comes off easy, bottom one requires wiggling around the tilt/telescope control. Undo the 2 10mm bolts, remove the clamp, take out the old bushing, clean the contact points, lubricate everything with "molybdenum disulfide lithium base grease" per TSIB ST001-04, put in new bushing, lubricate some more, reassemble, and you're done.

The original grease is similar in color and consistency as the Akebono high temperature synthetic brake grease - much thicker than lithium spray grease. Better to use something thicker than lithium spray grease that doesn't corrode rubber - garage door grease or synthetic brake grease should work.

My bushing was worn out exactly like fencera's and loughery's but I had no problems with the motor or movement, just some minor squeaking that only happens in the winter.

These 3 threads should be combined into one for everyone's ease of reference.

DavidinCT

Oh well.... last Friday my tilt motor officially died. It pulled up and wont come back down, manual' switch does nothing on it and it's stuck at the highest level.......I will try to manually get it down (good directions on here)

Does anyone know the Toyota/Lexus part number for the tilt motor for my 2001 LS ? It will make it easier to try to search for.

Thanks !

groomerz

Had this problem years ago and did the whole bushing thing. Yesterday would telescope out but not in. motor didn't even try to retract but would extend . I then remembered the secret extra inch procedure. I pushed retract like ten times and it retracted an inch. I continued to due this until it retracted all the way in. Now it extends and retracts correctly. Not sure if motor needed exercise or if it reset the travel limits or ? All I know is I didn't have to open up the lower column again. Any one know why this worked please share

jpv7774

Im too lazy to go back and read my own post about this......but when I replaced the telescopic motor it didnt work at first....it would only go out a slight bit.......I slept on it......came out the next day and thought what if I start the motor when it is set on a diff position on the screw mechanism.......sure enough it worked. As I recall I attached the rod when it was all the way in.....once hooked up I hit the telescope switch to zoom all the way out.........once it did....the travel limits were set ......give it a try.

phanham

Since this thread has been resurrected - is it same to assume that a "cross-tip" screwdriver = JIS screwdriver?

xtr3me

Good info phanham....
As most of us are not aware of the difference... I only learned the difference several years ago while working on an ATV where the screw had been fastened with Loctite and was starting to strip while attempting to remove it even using heat. My brother works as a small engine mechanic and shared the JIS info with me.

So yeah, the cross + tip screwdriver recommended for Japanese makes of cars, motorcycles and especially electronics is JIS... as the phillips is slightly different and has a tendency to eat the heads on JIS screws
However most good quality phillips screwdrivers will work on larger screws w/o stripping the heads. it's mostly on the smaller head screws where the stripping occurs when using a phillips cross tip on a JIS screw. An alternative option to purchasing a JIS screwdriver - grind or file down the tip of the phillips screwdriver for better fitment, another tip recommended by my brother

tradosauru

Any preventative maintenance we can do on the tilt motor to keep it from failing?

Slvr surfr

iTrader: (1)

I would say keep it greased up pretty good! Mine started working again after 2+ years of not working. I had the cover off one day i was doing some unrelated work. Decided to give all the gears and tracks a nice little shot of grease while i was there. No response initially but after maybe a week i came out one morning and the wheel was tilted and retracted all the way like when exiting. Turn on the car and viola!! Bee working ever since. I will periodically keep it well lubricated. BTW, my car has 180K+ miles on it now.

tradosauru

When you say shot of grease how are you applying it?

Slvr surfr

iTrader: (1)

I used a spray can of grease. Use the little straw that comes with it so you can get to the necessary moving parts. Also buy the odor-less kind if possible so that the smell don't saturate your interior.

Gronemus

My telescopic adjuster has never worked since I bought the car last fall and it's never really bothered me since the steering wheel is stuck in a usable position. That said, I'd still like to get this working again so I started to look at the system today. As others have found, the bushing on mine is kind of torn but root cause is that the motor shaft is binding. Clamping the motor in a vice and using a 12" crescent wrench I found it difficult to initially turn the motor shaft. Once it broke free, it still seems like there is a lot of resistance in the motor.

Before I take the motor apart does anybody have the wiring diagram for the connector to the Telescopic motor???

For anyone that has changed out their motor already, did you try turning the motor shaft at all before mounting it back in your car? If you did, was it easy to turn???

rkw77080

Here you go...

Gronemus

Thanks RKW. What year was this diagram for? It seems that the color of the wires coming out of the connector on my motor doesn't jive with what's listed here. Not that it really matters much as it turns out I'll likely have to order another motor. The part number of the motor that I've got is 89232-50050.

As far as my other question about the friction in the motor shaft while turning it by hand, it appears that that looks like normal behavior. Once I disassembled the motor, I could freely spin the shaft in the bearing.

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how this motor generates so much torque in order to turn that telescopic shaft. There are no traditional coils in this thing and the wires and pins in the connectors are rather flimsy...

rkw77080

The previous diagram was for 2004-2006. Here's one for 2001-2003...