The steering wheel on my 2003 LS430 (115,000 miles) stopped functioning properly.

When I turn the car off, the wheel retracts normally;
When I turn on the car, the wheel does nothing;
With the manual adjustment button, I can get the wheel to come out, but it will not adjust up or down.

It does not make any noise and does not appear to be unsuccessfully "trying" - it is simply not moving.

My mechanic says it is something that only the dealer can repair (due to part availability) and that it will cost about $2,500.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

MotionMan

 

Having the same problem.

 

you can have the dealer turn off the retract fuction.

 

Highly recommended first "mod" when you get an LS430 of any year. These mechanisms are known to break, are expensive, and disabling the auto retract will significantly extend their lifespan.

 

I am 6'3" and my wife is 5'7", so that is not a good option.

MotionMan

 

When you disable the auto retract you extend the wheel life to virtual infinity. However, you have also reduced the auto retract feature to zero.

I want to enjoy every feature of my car. Take your choice.

 

This is a valid and fair point. My take as a member that *definitely* fits the terms of both big AND tall clubs is that I don't find the feature all that much of a must have, unlike my friend who loves it. Considering the silly expense to fix it when it breaks, the trade-off is not worth it to me. If I *were* in the position where I was willing to drop 1, 2k to fix such a thing when it broke, I probably wouldn't be driving an LS430.

 

Having somewhat of the same problem. Every time I turn the car off and pull the keys out, the steering wheel tilts all the way up. Whenever I put the key back in, it goes about 1/3 of the way down, when I start the car, it goes about 2/3 of the way down, but I still have to manually adjust to my preference (which is all the way down). When I turn the car off, and pull the keys out, it retracts all the way up.
HOWEVER!
The "in-out" feature does not work at all. "up-down" works fine, but in-out" doesn't.

I was hoping this whole issue was just a setting, so I tried applying to the settings to my "Driver 1" option, but the steering wheel still does not adjust to my preference.

Is this a setting issue?
Is it something I can fix myself? (I have a relatively good knowledge of cars/Lexus LS models)

Just wondering if anyone has ever done this fix before I open everything up

 

I have struggled with the same problem. The consensus seems to be that the motors wear out about 125,000. I have a local Toyota shop that has a Lexus trained tech that will replace both motors (tilt and telescope) for around $1300. I think I am going to do it.

 

If it is in Los Angeles, please PM me the info.

Thanks.

MotionMan

 

I had this exact problem, and the culprit was that the tilt motor was going out. Eventually it stopped working even when using the tilt/telescoping switch.

I believe that the tilt motor is the one that is much easier to replace than the telescoping motor. I recall that I paid about 300 euros ($400) at the local (Finland) Lexus dealer for the labor and parts.

Just go to the dealer and have the tilt motor fixed - the auto retract feature is fantastic. What really sets the LS's electric steering wheel operation apart from the competition is how incredibly quiet it is! You can hardly hear the steering wheel moving at all, and that's even when the car is not running and AC + radio are all off.

 

My thought is that I will enjoy this automatic feature until the very very first sign of any failure/coise/click whatsoever then I will go to the dealer to have the auto function disabled while there is still time to save it for manual use. Hopefully I will not be too late. Just my 2 cents. Oh one final thought. When I park the car inside my own garage which is all the time, I do not remove the key. Based on 7 days times 2 trips per day average it saved the mechanizms from having to move 728 times per year. I feel this will buy me some more time to enjoy the feature.

LASTLY, you state that it is not a good idea as you are tall and your wife is considerably less tall. BUT if you think about it, the steering wheel WILL re-establish each of your individual desired positions with the use of the memory seat function it will just not auto retract so if you can get it functional again it will conform to your desired positions individually with the memory seat button. Just an observation.

 

The wheel does not moved even when I use the memory buttons.

MotionMan

 

Not sure if this will be applicable, but it's worth a look:

 

Unfortunately, my problem does not appear to be the gear (it never made any noise). Also, mine WILL go in and out when I use the switch, but will not ever go up and down.

MotionMan