Steering Telescopic Travel Action Failed

[Keynsham1]

I have a 2000 'V' LS400 and I originally had a problem with the tilt action of the steering. This was purely down to the motor which I replaced.

Now the telescopic action is playing up. It seemed that it had got tight as the motor would try but couldn't move the steering. If I pushed or pulled on the steering wheel at the same time, it would move. I have just removed, stripped, and re-greased the steering column and sure enough it had pretty much seized up, but even after stripping, cleaning and regreasing, the telescopic action is still the same. I am wondering if the motor is failing and not producing enough torque for the job? Does anyone else have experience of this? Is the telescopic action always stiff as even after regreasing the sliding tube and splined shaft, it still takes some force to move it?

[Titch LS]

Richard, are you sure that everthing went back properly when you replaced the motor? By that I mean have you overtightened something or maybe something is slightly mis-aligned? I've had to re-grease the threads on the mechanism on mine (2000 mk4), as it would vibrate when retracting. It's been much better since, now I hardly get the retracting vibration at all.

[Keynsham1]

It all went back as it should according to the Lexus service manual. I was just surprised how much physical effort is needed to slide the assembly in and out when the motor is detached. It was a smooth movement but there is no adjustment for this. The inner tube slides in the outer tube and has spring loaded wedges which apply a given force I assume to stop rattles and vibration. I will try and get a replacement motor first and try that. I expect the motors are pretty powerful, and considering the gearing using a spiral drive shaft, they can apply a fair bit of load!

[steve2006]

Be good if you could take some pictures of the proceedure for replacing the motor.

I would be happy to write a tutorial using them if OK with you.

[exsentric]

Hi Richard, this may be of no help to you, but just in case here is my saga with steering tilt/tele motors.

The tilt motor was not working so some 4 weeks ago I removed it, opened it up, found it was shot so ordered a new one.

In order to use the car I replaced the tilt motor and while doing so discovered I had removed one more 10mm set screw than I needed to so duly replaced it in the position I thought it came from. I now found that the telescope motor that had been working no longer was!

New tilt motor arrived this week so today I again removed the duff one and replaced it. While carrying this out I noticed that the tele motor was trying to work and while watching it I saw that the end thrust bearing was swiveling in it's clamp and thus jamming the rotation of the screw drive. The reason for this was my previous inadvertent replacement of the 10mm set screw in the wrong location.

instead of through the lower end of the thrust bearing bracket which was now only attached by it's top fixing.

As the bracket in question is fairly deep in the dash and the fact that there is an adjacent unused but tapped 10mm hole make this error somewhat excusable ( at least that's my claim!!)

Upshot is all is now working fine, but as I say this may not apply in your case - particularly as mine is an LS430 and may have a completely different set-up.

Good luck with it anyway.

Richard

[Gbneil]

I have a theory regarding this....most people swing themselves out of their car by grabbing the wheel...in a lexus, this is sometimes before the wheel has retracted fully this putting lots of pressure on the retracting mechanism....therefore,causing premature wear/failure....be patient...plausible?

[exsentric]

Sounds plausible to me. Anybody fancy starting a research program into this?

Seems logical that the failure rate will then be much higher in vehicles with f....

lets say more robustly built owners!!! Good luck with that one.

Richard.

[Mybikes a cx500]

I am maybe being too cautious, but I don't start the car until the wheel stops moving, as the starter motor load drops the voltage, and I don't like the idea of running the motors on a lower voltage

[cruisermark]

same here - i wait untill its full retracted befre starting the car - and make sure i dont put any force on it when switching off and coming out

[ambermarine]

I concur with the load theory ,after all the cogs are very malable and are not designed to take a load. screw drives are genearly used for changing direction of force ,meshing cogs are used for loading.

And the size of the gears is quite small and will have been designed to do what it is supposed to do only.

The retracting ariel works on the same principle and failures on those are usually because the screw drive as stripped brought about by gunge getting into the mast and the teeth of the mast gear strip which like the screw are made of nylon.

[n4chv]

Unfortunately for me, despite my local garage saying the motors were working fine, I ended up having to replace the entire steering column in my LS430

We did try swapping the steering adjuster switch but this didn't solve the problem.

Lexus dealers also recommend replacing the entire column rather than throwing time and money at replacing individual components.

Very annoying given that this was never an issue with the LS400

[Keynsham1]

My LS400 is a late Mk4 and has the same steering rack as the LS430, with the flat stepper motors. As it tilts OK at the moment I haven't done anything more. When I get a clear and dry afternoon I will have another go at this.

[Keynsham1]

I have just removed my steering column again to try and solve my telescopic motor action problem. Firstly i had the motor spindle on the nut such that the motor thought it was almost fully retracted when the column was actually extended. I sorted this out and now I have full travel in and out of the steering column with the motor rotating but only if you push or pull on the steering wheel as the action is so stiff that the motor cannot move it without help.

It seems that the two locking pads that are screwed into the side of the column are clamping the thing so tight it cannot move properly. Thing is they are sprung loaded and there is no adjustment! I am at a loss again. I think that another removal and a closer inspection may be required. I am sure that I am doing something wrong as it all looks good and undamaged!

[ambermarine]

Hi

Do the spring loaded clamps require any kind of lubrication on thier captive parts or does the slide require lubrication such as silicone spray.

If the unit is struggling with the load and everything looks good mechanically it could be lubrication ,try spraying the whole lot with silicone spray lubricant ,it can't do any harm.

[exsentric]

Don't know too much about this problem so might be talking rubbish, but it seems to me that in order for a telescopic action to take place ther would have to be a sliding spline arrangement in there somewhere and if that where dry and seizing up I would imagine it would only be possible to lubricate it by completely dis-assemblig it. Maybe you have already tried that, if so please ignore this suggestion.

Richard.

[alien1974]

the only time i touch my steering wheel is when i am driving