I own a '98 GS300 with 130k on it. Well my steering wheel tilt motor started acting up some time ago. Basically during the cold months in Texas and a few times during the summer it refuses to tilt down. It'll make the click noise but won't budge. I took it into Park Place Lexus yesterday and they told me I needed to replace the entire tilt motor and it would cost $1400 to $1500.

I've searched the forums for advice already and the best option seems to be going into CBEST and disabling the auto-tilt option. However, this morning I spoke to Sewell Lexus in Dallas and their service department informed me that CBEST doesn't offer the option to disable the auto-tilt. They offered to disable the motor for good so it's set in place for $250.

Has anyone else with a 1998 GS300 been able to disable the auto-tilt option through CBEST? My next plan is to follow the DIY instructions on taking out the motor to clean/relube.

Thanks for reading. Any advice is appreciated.

 

I checked ebay, and there is none at the moment, but if I were you I would look around and find one on there, or some other site that sells auto parts....the motor anyways. I'd pull it out and clean it off, as far as the contacts.

 

Try www.car-part.com. It's a database with many junkyards in the US. GL

 

I'm not sure about a 98 GS3, but the auto tilt on my 02 GS430 can be disabled thru CBeST.... and I plan to do it next time I go by the dealer... along with disabling the auto locking function of the doors when I put it in gear... anyway, per my Lexus master tech buddy, pull the lower cover off the steering wheel and see if you can rotate the tilt gear by hand just a hair and the motor should run again... likely a just a dead spot on the armature... then you can move the wheel where you want it and disconnect the motor connector if you choose.... and if you leave it functional, lube the crap out of the gear/rack and you'll likely not have the problem again....

 

I'm pretty sure C-best will take care of this. Call around to other lexus dealers to verify. I'm pretty sure a quick solution to this is to just pull the fuse for it, but I'm not sure if that circuit is tied to anything else. I would be willing to bet that's the dealer's $250 fix lol.

 

highly unlucky sewell is gonna attempt to get the best of him as much as they support the forums and independent owners. i think (but im not 100%, some OG can chime in) i recall reading that C-BEST isnt a option for 1998-2000 models. If the 1998-2000 models DO have C-BEST,maybe they just dont offer a disabling feature for the steering wheel.

OP i would try lubing/regreasing before i did anything and if that doesnt fix it contact a few junkyards (there are a few on here) and see if they can source the motor for you cheaply or you could let it drop down where you want it and just unplug the motor for free.

 

my 1999 owner's manual mentions it?

 

cool, as i said i wasn't 100% sure but as i also said it may not be a feature of c-best for those years. i dunno for sure thats why i said some OG's will chime in. thanks for info.....btw does it list all the features c-best can change in the 1999 manual? truthfully i didnt know this was in the manual i guess i should look at mine from time to time

my local dealer player stupid bout c-best till i showed them proof and made them feel stupid. i still havent gotten all my doors changed in c-best to unlock when i park as i dont wanna give my local dealer a red $0.01

 

just double checked my book, pg 74, which is about the steering colum moving when you put in the key says this feature can be disabled, ask you lexus dealer.

I dunno if I would want my locks cycling all the time like that, since the actuators are such pos

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. I was just wondering if anyone knew what the motor is actually called. I've tried looking for it on car-parts.com and I've possibly browsed over without knowing it.

Btw, I also took sivikvtec's advice and double checked my manual also and it definitely says "NOTE: *This feature can be set inoperative. Ask you Lexus dealer for details."

I'm going to call back tomorrow and ask again hopefully someone will knows more than the person I spoke with.

Also, one off topic questions. My driver door actuator is out and the ones i've seen on ebay are all white plastic, expect when I opened my door up it looks like the actuator is a black box. I could just be a noob and mistaken the actuator.

 

My OEM replacement one was white. Just be sure the part numbers match.

 

true, but i fear my freaking gf or niece is gonna rip my gd door handle off as when i park they immediately try and open door while pushing to get out and its locked so the door opener just slams on the door and i am concerned with them breaking. this was a feature in my es and it was really nice to have

well as i said i wasn't 100% sure, now i am. thanks guys. like i said though my dealer played stupid like they didn't know what c-best was and i called a few others along time ago and some where and some weren't aware of it

 

my 98 GS400 was doing the exact same thing... If your still functions and you can get it set to the position you would like you can dissconnect a harness that right under the key switch under the steering column. When I did this it stop the automatic telescoping mode but still allows me to manually adjust it with the tilt switch... I'll try to find the orginal thread where I found this...

 

anyone able to take a picture of the harness you can disconnect to stop the steering wheel from telescoping when putting the key in the ignition

 

Search by telescope, we have either fixed it or disabled the tilt, but you will find pages and pages about messing with the gear, etc.