I disassembled a switch this week to take a peek inside. They're definitely not designed for routine servicing...

The rocker switch sits on a plastic pedestal surrounding 4 raised buttons, with plastic looking heads. The contacts are presumably below them (the rocker pressed down on the button which closes the contact), with no apparent way of getting in there other than breaking the plastic and/or circuit board to pry them apart. I didn't see any notable deformation on the button heads, but the lithium grease from the middle of the pedestal tends to spread out to them, so maybe there's some slippage of the rocker going on.

To get it apart, you have to remove all the little shiny screws surrounding the clockspring, unbolt the little bracket holding the wiper arm down, push it in toward the steering column and release it from spring tension at the end of its track, try not to lose the ball bearing behind it, then figure out some way to get wire slack to pull the switch assembly out. It runs tight under the steering column, so you either need to climb under there (not something I wanted to do in a moldy, greasy, broken glass filled car) and work on your back, or pull the steering column, to see where it goes and hopefully find a junction to disconnect.

 

^^ t2d2, that's a lot of work you just went through! Thank you for taking it upon yourself to investigate further!

I would need pictures to better understand how those parts fit together but just based on your description of how intricate any of this is to get to and how it seems like it would be extremely difficult to service once cracked open.... I don't think I'm going to do that myself. It was enough once to work on my back in the footwell, my head bumping into the pedals with goggles and a headlamp on all to replace my Mirror Control ECU (that one horrible bolt!).

The only time I would ever drop the steering column and tear into all of this would be if I could locate all the parts needed to convert my SC to the early base model manual steering column adjustment controls and totally ditch the automatic tilt and telescope assemblies.

For those reading who don't know, yes early SC300's sold between 1992-1994 that were ordered with basically zero options occasionally came with fully manual steering columns. Usually these were hardtops and I'm going to guess that while many had manual transmissions some came with an automatic as their ONLY option. This hardware is VERY rare in the LHD U.S. and Canadian SC's. It is much more common to find in RHD Z30 Soarers that did not always come standard with the auto tilt & telescope columns (or standard sunroofs among other things SC's just came with like it or not).

 

It really wasn't that much work ... the steering wheel and shroud were already off, and the column had been dropped. (If only there were a way to raise it to get to the wiring underneath. I'll add some pics in a bit.

I'd love to find one of those manual columns!

 

 

Thanks for the write up. Just fixed it today, I can see all of my cluster.

 

Just fixed the tilt on mine (98 LS) today. It decided to stop working last night. When I heard the grinding noise it made I was nervous, but the gear was fine and it just needed to be repositioned with some washers.

 

Congrats. Thats an awesome repair isnt it.

 

Just did this on a "93 SC4. Worked well. Used plain hose washers, lotsa lithium grease.

 

I did mine today. Also a 98 LS400. The tilt failed a few months ago, I found this thread quickly, but never got around to it till now. Just as the OP explained. I used rubber garden hose washers, two behind and one in front. Cleaned out the disintegrated spacer and most of the yellow grease, replaced with white lithium grease. Pretty simple, though I did need pliers and socket wrench to loosen some of those 23-year old screws.

Yes, this is an awesome thread and repair. Tilt/telescoping works just like new. Thanks!

 

I found what appeared to be the remains of a disintegrated black plastic or foam spacer. It lasted 22 years, but not quite forever. Mistake? I'm inclined to let this one slide.

 

Thanks for the write up! Worked like a charm for me.

 

I have to dig up this thread and kick the dead horse one more time with a big thank you! I was having this exact issue, and was able to remedy it with this guide. Some items that helped were these 15mm inner diameter 2mm thick plastic washers: https://amzn.to/3WpvL8W

I placed one of these washers on each side of the cog. 15mm inner diameter is necessary because any smaller and it will not fit over the spindle.

I also removed all the old grease which was gummed up, like cold bacon grease, and replaced it with new grease:
I also recommend using a ratchet (9mm [side screws] and 10mm [bottom screw] sockets needed) to remove the screws on the cover over the gear, the screws are hard to get at with a screwdriver, which i tried first and stripped them a bit. phillips, FYI.

power tilt is working like a charm again!

Here’s some footage of the repair too

 

Is anyone 3D printing these parts yet?

 

I'm not sure, but I was able to find a replacement gear on Amazon. I haven't installed it yet but I'll let you know if it doesn't work!
MTC 1010726/45810-50010 Steering...