Hello! I've got a 2004 LS430 I bought about 3 years ago. I noticed over the winter that there is a mild squeak/chirping sound made by the telescoping steering wheel when it pops out after you turn the ignition switch. The sound isn't bad at all and at this moment the telescoping steering wheel and adjustments work without issues.

I know that the telescoping steering wheel can be problematic on these and it seems like cleaning and relubricating the telescoping sleeve piece thingy can help prevent the motor from burning out.

I watched a Car Care Nut video where he replaces the shaft that goes through the assembly and he points out where you'd want to clean and lubricate but doesn't go into much detail.

I tried to search around for information specific to this but most of the forum posts and repair videos for these cars are so old now that the search engines don't do a great job of finding them.

My question is can you access this telescoping sleeve by just taking off that bottom plastic cover on the underside of the steering wheel? Or do you have to take apart a bunch of the dash to get to it?

Does anyone have any tips for how to clean this sleeve and what lubricant is recommended?

Thanks!