Good afternoon all, I currently reside on the sc430 forum, however have come accross a problem with my wifes LS430-01.

The auto tilt and retract on the steering column has stopped working. and the controls on the left side of it work partially out not up or down. do any of you have any idea as to what may be wrong with it. my wife is killing me here.

Please help

 

Has it been/is it making any groaning noise? If it totally quit it could be a fuse.

Otherwise, it's a known issue - the motors and gears for the tilt/telescoping are a bit weak. You could pop the cover off and poke around yourself, maybe try to grease it, but if it's completely stopped working you're probably out of luck and it'll require a dealer trip and around $600.

 

Not to sure, got in it the other day to wash it and i noticed that it was not working, it does not sound like any growning at all just see that it does not work. but who knows with her she does not even pay attention to the info that pops up on the nav unit

 

Other than problems with the mirrors and mirror switch this is probably the most common mechanical failure on the LS430 series. You can do a search on this forum for past threads involving steering column and tilt motor, etc - there are some diy attempts that have been documented. The dis-assembly and reassembly looks a little involved but basically straight forward stuff involving screwdriver and pliers type work however it would largely have to be done in a hugely uncomfortable position - I do a lot of diy on this car but if my tilt column went out I'd take it to Lexus.

 

Not to sure, got in it the other day to wash it and i noticed that it was not working, it does not sound like any growning at all just see that it does not work. but who knows with her she does not even pay attention to the info that pops up on the nav unit

 

As others have said, it's a known problem. Probably made worse if the auto-retract-on-exit function was not disabled at the dealer. (At least you can disable the mirrors from retracting by a switch.) You can check out the DIY threads or make an appointment at the dealer / independent Lexus repair shop.