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Thank You Bradland it's nice and clear now , I was a bit confuse .
Also, it's anybody out there who's replacing tilt motor , I need one for experiments , I'll pay for shipping and beer
i removed the bottom component to Access the 10mm nuts to removed the telescope motor
please somebody hElp me I am not able to access the 10mm nuts to remove the telescope motor the picture is not clear I don't know what to do I'm stock ! Guys please help!!!
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but a huge thank you to the folks who contributed. This write up got me pretty close, but since I have an 06 UL, there was the airbag to deal with. As mentioned in a previous response, if you can get the airbag and duct out of the way, it's cake. Sadly, I couldn't figure out the knee airbag, but the duct is held in place by a single 10mm bolt. Just look up and slightly towards the front of the car from the duct outlet, and you'll see it. Once that was pushed a bit out of the way, I could finally see what I was working on. If you don't get that duct out of the way, and the universal joint drops out, good luck trying to get it all fit back together by feel alone, that's something way beyond my skill set.
I went the cheap route and picked up a used motor from eBay for 80 bucks rather than trying to repair the failed motor . Got one from an earlier model, but it worked perfectly when I plugged it in to test, part # ended with 41 instead of 50. Did the 'pull out the column and adjust the new motor to all the way out before assembly', but stupid me turned the car off, and forgot it would it pull back all the way . So I ended up assembling the whole thing and only got a tiny movement. Rather than try to get at the motor, I just undid the top bushing/nut, used the adjuster to spin the motor to the fully extended point, and then put the nut and bushing back on and bolted it all together. Way easier than the alternative.
And last but not least, plugged in the Techstream and turned off the tilt/telescope every time I enter/exit the car. I'll just have to remember to exercise the tilt/telescope now and then to keep things moving.
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I havent got caught up on this thread in a long time but I did read the last post. All I can say is that replacing the telescoping motor absolutely can be done without removing the air bag or much else. It was a total pain in extremely tight spaces. If you have the right tools and a lot of patience you can get this job done. I love the feature of the steering wheel moving out of the way and would do the repair all over again if i had to.....its worth it.
Well, root cause of my telescopic woes turned out to be the motor. I guess no surprise there. I was a little hesitant to cough up the $305 + shipping for a 89232-50050 motor so I started doing a little Googling and found a source out of the United Arab Emirates that was selling them for $230.74 + $12.24 shipping via eBay. I like to vet people I'm thinking of purchasing from and always go to look at their feedback ratings. In this case, the seller had an outstanding feedback record for the amount of stuff that he sells. Always a good sign. Better yet, I found out a new part number for a Toyota motor that he had recently sold: 89232-60022 at a price that was $25 less than the motor I needed for the LS430.
After some intensive searching I came across this excellent thread over in the IH8MUD forum started by a fellow that owns a 2004 Toyota Land Cruiser. When you look at the photos you can see that the tilt & telescopic system used in that vehicle looks identical to the one in ours. More important to me, he also included some pictures of the inside of his motor that he had taken apart to clean. The photo I was most interested in though was the one showing the part number of the circuit board used inside the motor. This turned out to be the same one used in the motor that I opened up. This told me that the motors were identical and the only difference was in the wire harness used to interface the motor with the vehicle.
So I went and ordered the motor from the source in the UAE on a Wednesday night and the following Monday it was at my front door. Total price was $204.41 + $12.25 for shipping. Considering where it came from I was highly impressed with the speed of the delivery. Thanks FedEx!
Here are a couple of photos of the part. Everything seemed on the up and up as I had visions of Chinese made knockoff parts dancing in my head as I opened the box. I was a little surprised by the blob of shipping tape around the part but I suspect that the vendor just wanted to make sure that the bubble wrap that he used was well secured.
Here is a picture of the harness and mounting bracket from my old motor attached to the new one. The harness on the right is what shipped on the motor.
I found that it was easier to mount the motor back into the car when I removed one 10mm bolt holding the HVAC vent right next to where the TS motor goes. With that shifted out of the way I could then screw the motor in place while facing it from the front instead of trying to do it while lying on my back. As mentioned in other posts on this thread, I made sure to extend the motor out before I reconnected the nut and clamp back onto the column. As expected, the telescopic feature now works like a champ.
Some additional comments that I have: It wasn't until I started looking at my system initially that I was able to determine that my steering wheel was stuck in the farthest out position, (i.e., closest to the driver). With the tilt function still functional, I found that I could easily live with the telescopic portion not working. Its in my nature however that I like everything to work in my cars. So that's why I decided to replace the motor.
For those of you that do not want to spend the money to replace the motor I found out that there is another alternative that one could use to get manual functionality of the telescopic system: just remove the clamp holding the nut to the steering column. You will find that you can then manually move the column using your hands. It does take quite a bit of force to do this and its the only reason I would suggest doing this as I'm sure many will claim that its going to be unsafe to drive around in that condition. All I can tell you is that I drove my car around like that for well over a week and never had a problem doing so. It takes that much force to move the column. As always YMMV...
I can verify that this part works. Just replaced mine today. Works great. Current price was $167.40 +$14.75 shipping.
Long, useful thread, but in searching the forum for 'squeaking steering wheel', this surfaced from back in 2007 as a TCB fix:
Originally Posted by ayonnebay
Took my '04 to Lexus today regarding creaking noise when steeringwheel raises and lowers while turning key on/off. They performed TSB on that very problem (which was mentioned on this forum in 2004).
It includes installing a part ( part #45767-50010), and was done quickly.
STEERING COLUMN NOISE - ST001-04
Number: ST001-04
Bulletin Date: 1/7/2004
Applicable VIN Range: ’02 – ’04 LS 430 JTHBN30F#20059627 to JTHBN36F040141419
Summary: Some LS 400 and LS 430 vehicles may experience steering column noise due to insufficient torsional strength of the telescopic steering column cable. The cable has been replaced with a universal joint to prevent steering column noise.
So how, if at all, does the cable or universal joint fit into the motor issues. Just wondering if some of the noise is from the cable of cars not fixed under the TSB. Obviously if you motor is failing, it's the motor, but has anyone replaced the cable with the universal joint as an interim fix?
The universal joint is $8...
Lexus Part No.:45230-50020(for my 2002, per LexusPartsNow.com)
JOINT ASSY, STEERING SHAFT UNIVERSAL
Part DescriptionJoint Assy, Steering Shaft Universal
All - I just picked up a 2003 LS430 with 80k miles last week - my first Lexus. Manual telescope worked, but tilt did not. In addition, auto return telescope when the key was inserted did not work - I had to adjust manually every time as it auto retracted when I removed the key.
Decided to replace the tilt motor based on this thread and several others. Not wanting to pay $256.50 on eBay or $400+ at a dealer I decided to take a gamble on the cheaper, possibly equivalent, Toyota motor.
Based on the experience of Gronemus I ordered PN: 89231-60022 to replace PN: 89231-50050. After swapping over the harness it worked without issue. In addition auto telescope return now works as well. Other than the harness and the PN sticker the two motors appeared identical. I paid $190.83 shipped from the UAE. Ordered on Monday and the part arrived Thursday morning. eBay listing is below.
To summarize, after swapping the harness:
Telescope motor - Toyota PN: 89232-60022 will substitute for Lexus PN: 89232-50050 (per Gronemus and confirmed by NVMYLS430)
Tilt motor - Toyoyta PN: 89231-60022 will substitute for Lexus PN: 89231-50050
I also replaced the telescope bushing, PN: 45768-60011 while I was in there as mine was torn. Hope this helps someone else save some money. If your tilt motor goes out order 9231-60022 with confidence!
Great info! Thanks to all.
Mine quit in the retracted position and I drive fully extended. I was able to access the back of the motor without pulling the knee airbag (04 UL car) and using a straight slot screwdriver bit in a 1/4” socket in the back of the motor I got it moved to the position I need. I disconnected the plug to the Telescope motor. Tilt works fine manually but the tilt memory is affected by having the telescope motor disconnected (I assume). I repeatedly set my memory tilt as full down and when the key is turned off it moves fully up as it should. When I turn the key back on it tilts down only about half way to where I had set it. I can easily move it down but this is going to annoy me till I fix it.
As a 22 year Toyota plant tech I’m interested in root cause. As some stated the telescope column seems extraordinarily stiff going in and out. How that little motor moved it for so long is amazing. (I’m guessing it has some gear reduction?). The fact that they had to come up with a TSB replacement to the flex shaft tells me the damn thing is just too hard to move. It’s not in the nut which was well lubed.
I’m not going to just buy a $300 motor until I know what’s going on in the column slide. If an LS430 ever hits the Pull A Part Lot I’ll try to snag a cheap column to play with.
Anyway, thanks again!
Last edited by oldkystude; Sep 24, 2019 at 04:55 PM.
While you contemplate on replacing the telescopic motor, you can still adjust the telescopic position with a bod motor. To extend and retract the steering wheel, the telescopic motor turns a jack-screw that is anchored to the steering column. What you need to do is to unbolt the 2 bolts for the anchor and free the jack screw from the steering column, then manually pull/push the steering wheel to the desired position, then manually rotate the anchor so that the 2 mounting holes on the anchor match their mating holes on the steering column, then reinstall the 2 mounting bolts. All of the above can be done without being UNDER the steering column.
This was super helpful! Thank you!!!
I did this and adjusted my wheel perfectly but I did something dumb and lost one of the bolts that hold the jackscrew and then overtightened the one I did put it and snap it in half....anyone know what the part numbers are for those bolts?
Thanks OP, bought a 2004 with telescopic engine working, and this thread gave me the courage to give it a go. With the 2004 there is the complications of the knee airbag (DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL ON THE BATTERY FOR 90 SECONDS BEFORE TOUCHING).
i have found the space to be super tight, with hvac as well as a plastic container thing next to the steering column. Oh I also needed to remind be not just the bottom guard, I had to remove the whole driver side cover. I have the service manual that I can take a photos if anyone interested
Picked up a 03 with 145k miles UL. The steering column will not move up/down, will not move in/out.
I checked the fuse under driver side and it is good. Do I need to replace the steering motor? Is it just one motor for all in/out/up/down? Not knowing where the current position, I am still confused on any adjustment I may need to make to get the new one fully functional. If I can fix it, my wife will be very happy.
Last edited by intermec; Mar 8, 2020 at 06:04 PM.
Reason: Spelling
Picked up a 03 with 145k miles UL. The steering column will not move up/down, will not move in/out.
I checked the fuse under driver side and it is good. Do I need to replace the steering motor? Is it just one motor for all in/out/up/down? Not knowing where the current position, I am still confused on any adjustment I may need to make to get the new one fully functional. If I can fix it, my wife will be very happy.
From my observation of the 2004 there are 2 motors, my understanding of the 2003 there are 2 motors too. This thread is only about the telescopic motor, if you go back to the start of the thread you would see a link to the tilt motor. I am just thinking you could be unlucky or there might be something else that needs to be looked at, perhaps check to see if the power is making it to the plugs as you would be wasting money getting 2 motors, my 2 cents
Good advice. I am not good at wires but has sense of logic and skill to fix basic.
If I remove the lower steering cover and want to test the two motors, what is the best way to do that?
I have a volt meter
i removed the bottom component to Access the 10mm nuts to removed the telescope motor
