Pretty much everyone knows how to fix the tilt motor on the steering wheel by now, but a number of people have asked what to do about a non-working telescoping feature and the question always goes unanswered. Mine has been dead since I got the car, and I failed twice on previous occasions to get it unplugged so I could remove it for testing. I've never managed to remove the trim piece below the steering wheel, because it's mounted in conjunction with the center trim piece and cabin temperature sensor, both of which have resisted all of my efforts to unclip. As such, access to the telescoping motor is extremely limited.

I have a bunch of spare parts now, including a replacement tele motor that I confirmed to work properly. Yesterday, I spent 3+ hours getting the old one out, only to discover that it worked, as well. So, I moved on to Plan B, which was sort of Plan A all along but seemed too unlikely to be worth buying the spare part ... swapping tilt/tele ecu's, of which I also have a spare now. Sure enough, that worked! The ecu is easy to get at, hanging below the dash alongside the fender, although the connectors are on the back side and you have to be double jointed to reach them. The idea was probably to take the seat out and lay on your back in that space.

Granted, I didn't test the new motor with the old ecu, but both motors work fine with battery power when removed, so it's unlikely I changed anything there of significance. I guess it's possible for the tilt portion of the ecu to still function while the telescoping portion doesn't?

This is the second time on the car I've gone to great lengths to replace what I thought was a dead motor, only to find that it was the controls. The first time was the passenger seat recline, and it turned out to be a melted rocker switch. The motors are thought of as high wear items, but it also happens to be a strong suit of Toyota's. It's the plastics, leathers and vinyls, and ecu's that they've proved rather inept at. So, if you have a "dead" motor, look elsewhere first! The tilt/tele ecu is only $15-20 to replace.

 

Good info man, mines kinda hit and miss, works sometimes and doesn't most others. I'll check this out sometime.

 

Mine worked ~1% of the time. I was able to extract it most of the way by moving it a fraction of a millimeter every time I was in the car. It seemed like the motor would quickly run out of juice. But, it must have been the ecu that was barely making a connection. I had a tilt/tele ecu on my eBay watch list forever, but it seemed like such an unlikely culprit, I never bothered giving it a shot until acquiring a ton of spare parts this week.

 

can you post the part number for the ECU? i need to replace mine, it works completely randomly as well.

 

The old one and new one had part numbers that differed by one digit, but they looked identical and the connections were the same. Just search for any ecu for your year and you should be fine.

Is it also just your telescoping that is intermittent, or the tilt as well? I'm wondering if it's a common problem for the tele side of the ecu to fail.

 

no my tilt works perfectly always, just the tele is intermittent.

 

I guess that makes it official. We really do disagree about everything even when saying the same thing.

 

I can also now confirm the info from this thread that getting the tilt/tele functions working also restores functionality of the memory seat controls. However, I did not have to disconnect the memory controls to reset it, as was also reported in that thread. It simply worked as soon as tilt/tele ECUs were swapped.

 

No freaking way, seriously???? I'd love my memory seats to work!!! Gonna go to the junk yard next week and try to pull the ecu out and test it, if not, then ebay it is.

How hard is it to reach with the cluster out? Is it pretty visible?

 

I was holding my breath when I tried the memory setting, hoping that info would hold true...

It's much easier than that.

"The ecu is easy to get at, hanging below the dash alongside the fender, although the connectors are on the back side and you have to be double jointed to reach them."

You'll see it as soon as you poke your head under the dash, hanging out in the open. It's on metal hanger brackets with two bolts, one facing up by the vent duct and the other facing forward by the brake pedal. Once unbolted, I had to twist and turn it quite a bit to find an angle I could reach the release tabs on its two electrical connectors. The way they're positioned on the back side makes them nearly impossible to reach unless you remove the seat for a better angle.

 

wait so does it fix the memory seats or no?

 

Yes, as stated four posts up. That is, as long as the telescoping feature not working is the sole cause of the memory functions to fail. If there's something else causing the failure, such as one of the seat motors not working, then swapping tilt/tele ECUs may not be enough. But it'll be a step in the right direction, at the very least.

 

When I try to telescope the wheel, I only hear a small clicking sound. There is zero movement. Does this suggest that the ecu is ok, and the motor might be bad? Not sure if others hear the same thing, and if the ecu fixes the issue. My guess is that if the ecu is bad, that no signal would get there to cause a click sound.

*would hate to waste time/money buying an ecu if not needed.

 

It would make a brief clicking sound initially from the electrical contacts at the control switch, then quiet if the motor isn't turning. Mine must have been a nearly dead signal through the ECU, because I was able to get a tiny bit of juice out of the motor on each try, finally getting it most of the way extended after several weeks of that. But when it ran out of juice each time, there was no sound from the motor.

 

Cool, as you seem to have had the same problem, then I might as well try replacing the ecu. Thanks for the added info.