Hey All,

I see a lot of info on the 430 in this issue, but out of the blue my steering wheel won’t retract back into the dash. The motor is functioning as I can hear it working. It seems the gear or screw may have slipped? Does anyone know how I can fix this? Thanks a bunch. It’s a 2011 model year.

-I took off the column cover and disconnected the anchor (2) bolts and was freely able to move the bolt around. However with the anchor removed the motor still won’t spin the bolt, so don’t think it’s a bushing issue.

 

It is likely that the gear the motor is turning has lost teeth or fully snapped inside the retracting motor. You'll probably need to tear it down to investigate.

 

If you need a replacement column, get a used one. $150-250 on car-part.com. Lexus wants around $2k. Apparently, you can't buy the motors separate on these, if that's what it winds up being. Mine started making a louder than usual noise when telescoping out. After dealing with the cost of a valley plate re-seal on this one, plus our GX; now a cam tower leak for $4k on the GX, I'm about fed up with Lexus. I have Techstream, so I went in and disabled the telescopic function. Not dealing with it.