Jammed Tilt Motor On Ls400

[Austintrader]

Okay, the tilt motor on my 94 LS400 steering column jammed in the up position.

It will go in and out. but just clicks and grinds when you try to go down with it.

Problem is, it is stuck all the way up.

Is there a way to unjam the gears or manually lower the tilt steering wheel.

Thanks!

[moriwaki]

Sorry to hear that pal....mmm have no answear ...this is why I was interested in switching off my tilt as I dont need it....and save on wear....there is on some models an on/off switch somewhere...but not on my 97mk3 400...I'm sure someone will be along to help soon !

[laserron]

Sorry to hear that pal....mmm have no answear ...this is why I was interested in switching off my tilt as I dont need it....and save on wear....there is on some models an on/off switch somewhere...but not on my 97mk3 400...I'm sure someone will be along to help soon ! 

←

Hi all,

Check out the attachement for an right hand drive. There is a problem with the gear wearing. Found this on a US website. Hope it fixes you up. Do not see ahve to do an attachemnt. Here is a WORD document. Hope is is accepted

few days ago, I had a post regarding my jammed steering column (94 LS400). it was stuck at 'up' most position and refused to go down.

so, this morning, with hints from other good folks in the forum, I took sometime and completely fixed the problem. I took some pictures along the way, so anyone with the same problem, present or future, can use these pictured steps to fix it up without hundreds of ‘donation’ dollars to dealership!

dealers don't fix parts, they only install replacement parts. the motor is dealer-only item and it will cost you $524 last time I checked.

take off the box-like cover behind steering wheel by removing two screws at bottom. top/bottom halfs are sort of 'snap on' to each other, the bottom part can be easily removed with the steering column telescoping all the way out. you can leave the top part on.

with driver door open, unscrew 3 screws, loosen the bolt of the swing-out piece, then the small side panel for the motor's gear box can be removed to expose the blue plastic gear which drives the screw rod above to control the column up and down.

remove nut/washer at center axis in front of the gear piece.

the gear in mine was somewhat loose after years of use. when up-down button was pressed, it tilted inward and the teeth lost contact with the screw rod. so I had to remove the gear piece in order to put some shim piece as support behind the gear to make it rotate straight again!

if your gear has totally worn teeth, then you must find one at junk yard. the gear worth only a few cents but dealer just don't sell it standalone!

picture #4

but the gear in mine was kinda difficult to take out, so I made a small ‘hook’ from a piece of flat metal on my work bench and kinda wedged the gear off the center axis by reachng the ‘hook’ behind the gear

picture #5

this was how I made the shim piece which must be some sort of ring shape with about 1/4" thickness:

I took the cap of an empty ‘fuel injector cleaner’ bottle (long neck), and used my Dremel to saw it into half along rim side. then I took the inner ring which is hard plastic and used it as the shim ring going behind the gear piece. it’s in perfect diameter and thickness for this purpose!

picture #6

place the shim ring around center axis, reinsert the gear piece, make sure it is straight and in good contact with the screw rod above. reinstall washer/nut at center axis.

try the up-down button again, and BINGO! my steering column now goes up-down perfectly and freely!

I assume you know what to do in reverse after that.

total time spent: no more than 20 minutes, total cost: 0 dolars and 0 cents

[Austintrader]

Sorry to hear that pal....mmm have no answear ...this is why I was interested in switching off my tilt as I dont need it....and save on wear....there is on some models an on/off switch somewhere...but not on my 97mk3 400...I'm sure someone will be along to help soon ! 

←

Hi all,

Check out the attachement for an right hand drive. There is a problem with the gear wearing. Found this on a US website. Hope it fixes you up. Do not see ahve to do an attachemnt. Here is a WORD document. Hope is is accepted

few days ago, I had a post regarding my jammed steering column (94 LS400). it was stuck at 'up' most position and refused to go down.

so, this morning, with hints from other good folks in the forum, I took sometime and completely fixed the problem. I took some pictures along the way, so anyone with the same problem, present or future, can use these pictured steps to fix it up without hundreds of ‘donation’ dollars to dealership!

dealers don't fix parts, they only install replacement parts. the motor is dealer-only item and it will cost you $524 last time I checked.

take off the box-like cover behind steering wheel by removing two screws at bottom. top/bottom halfs are sort of 'snap on' to each other, the bottom part can be easily removed with the steering column telescoping all the way out. you can leave the top part on.

with driver door open, unscrew 3 screws, loosen the bolt of the swing-out piece, then the small side panel for the motor's gear box can be removed to expose the blue plastic gear which drives the screw rod above to control the column up and down.

remove nut/washer at center axis in front of the gear piece.

the gear in mine was somewhat loose after years of use. when up-down button was pressed, it tilted inward and the teeth lost contact with the screw rod. so I had to remove the gear piece in order to put some shim piece as support behind the gear to make it rotate straight again!

if your gear has totally worn teeth, then you must find one at junk yard. the gear worth only a few cents but dealer just don't sell it standalone!

picture #4

but the gear in mine was kinda difficult to take out, so I made a small ‘hook’ from a piece of flat metal on my work bench and kinda wedged the gear off the center axis by reachng the ‘hook’ behind the gear

picture #5

this was how I made the shim piece which must be some sort of ring shape with about 1/4" thickness:

I took the cap of an empty ‘fuel injector cleaner’ bottle (long neck), and used my Dremel to saw it into half along rim side. then I took the inner ring which is hard plastic and used it as the shim ring going behind the gear piece. it’s in perfect diameter and thickness for this purpose!

picture #6

place the shim ring around center axis, reinsert the gear piece, make sure it is straight and in good contact with the screw rod above. reinstall washer/nut at center axis.

try the up-down button again, and BINGO! my steering column now goes up-down perfectly and freely!

I assume you know what to do in reverse after that.

total time spent: no more than 20 minutes, total cost: 0 dolars and 0 cents

←

Thanks for the info! I will give it a try this weekend.