On my 98 Aristo when i turn the ignition off and the steering wheel retracts it makes a loud grinding noise i would say it needs lubricating does anyone know where to do this?

I had the same problem on my '98 GS300 SE MKII. It made a grinding noise when moving upwards and seemed to run 'unsmooth'. As the car was under warranty, I got it repaired bt Lexus Wolverhampton. Excellent job. Got back after a day and the retraction is as smoth as the proverbial baby's bum and v quiet.
It turned out to be a 'gear' in the column that was replaced.

Hope this helps.

Not sure exactly what was replaced and what it would have cost though.

Had the same problem with mine - noisy in hot weather.

Lexus replaced the entire steering column under warranty.

Cheers, might be a bit pricey for me to take to Lexus then ill take it apart and have a look myself see if theres anything obvious just needs greasing up

Let us know how you get on, mine made a scraping noise yesterday, will try to see l8r tomorrow depending on work hours anyways

I have a Canadian model 1998 GS300 that has this noise when the steering wheel retarcts and extends. My warranty is up. There was a service advisory about this problem. Does anyone know if lexus will fix it after the warranty because of a defect? I was told there are 2 motors which cost $300 each. Sounds like an expensive repair. Did the gentleman who had this problem look at his and if so do you have to pull the steering wheel to get at the motors and gears?

I would be interested to know too, my '94 GS300 makes a grinding noise too, its definately out of warranty but if there was a recall notice would older cars not get it fixed ???

Ants

There was no recall. A TSB went out which means there is a fix and owners who complain will get it fixed under warranty.

The early MKII GSs made a screeching noise in hot weather when the steering wheel was moved. Don't know of any grinding noise TSB.

www.alldata.com is a good source for recalls and TSBs. Has anybody subscribed to this?

hot waether and I have the griding noise... any solutions on this yet?