Automatic Tilt Wheel

[ronk33_fl]

Does anybody know how the steering wheel tilt mechanism works? I have a 94 LS400 and until 4 days ago the tilt and telescope worked just fine. Now, the telescope still works, but the tilt will not move. It stays in the up posiition and this makes it difficult to drive comfortably. Since this has happened, I have had to drive the car about 500 miles with the wheel in the up position and believe me, it isn't easy to drive it that way at 80 MPH on the turnpike. When you move the switch or let the automatic feature try to move the wheel down, it makes a ratcheting sound, like something is stripped. I tried to open up the cover and got the screws out, but could not completly get the cover halves apart.

ronk33_fl

[1990LS400]

I could probably find it for you but it would be good practice to do an advanced search of the LS400 section of this forum looking for the word "tilt". Complete instructions including photos on how to fix the tilt/telescope of the gen 1 LS400 have been posted several times in the past.

[eatingupblacktop]

As 1990 suggests, a ton of info on this. Instead of spoonfeeding you, we like to see some initiative. Easy search.

[amcdonal86]

Does anybody know how the steering wheel tilt mechanism works? I have a 94 LS400 and until 4 days ago the tilt and telescope worked just fine. Now, the telescope still works, but the tilt will not move. It stays in the up posiition and this makes it difficult to drive comfortably. Since this has happened, I have had to drive the car about 500 miles with the wheel in the up position and believe me, it isn't easy to drive it that way at 80 MPH on the turnpike. When you move the switch or let the automatic feature try to move the wheel down, it makes a ratcheting sound, like something is stripped. I tried to open up the cover and got the screws out, but could not completly get the cover halves apart.

ronk33_fl

There is a YouTube video found here that shows EXACTLY how to fix the problem.

[1990LS400]

The tilt gear fix for the 97 LS on Youtube does seem similar to the one for the 94 LS shown in the excellent writeup Wandawoods did -- same year LS that ronk33_fl has: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...237&hl=tilt

One has to be careful though ... the tilt/telescope mechanism was redesigned/refined several times during the eleven model years of the LS400.

[nsmallard]

Does anybody know how the steering wheel tilt mechanism works? I have a 94 LS400 and until 4 days ago the tilt and telescope worked just fine. Now, the telescope still works, but the tilt will not move. It stays in the up posiition and this makes it difficult to drive comfortably. Since this has happened, I have had to drive the car about 500 miles with the wheel in the up position and believe me, it isn't easy to drive it that way at 80 MPH on the turnpike. When you move the switch or let the automatic feature try to move the wheel down, it makes a ratcheting sound, like something is stripped. I tried to open up the cover and got the screws out, but could not completly get the cover halves apart.

ronk33_fl

There are THREE screws (one is almost under the steering wheel o the back edge of the cover - toward the steering wheel end). The cover just prys off after that. The tilt motor is on the door side. Pull the side cover off the tilt motor to access the green gear. Pull off the nut, and fashion 2 small hooks from a stiff wire to gently pull out the gear. You will wnt to space out the gear (it meshs with the worm gear only on the very edge. I used a garden hose rubber washer behind the gear to space it out so the worm gear meshes completely with the green gear. Re-install the gear and nut, and you're done. For free!

I saw a video on youtube a while back that shows the fix - you can probably search and find it.