Tilt wheel groans when raising

[asavage]

Our M35 (148k miles) is beginning to have a groan when the power tilt raises the steering wheel upon opening the door. Sounds to me like the tilt motor. Is there any history on this noise with this model? I tried Search and came up empty.

[Ilya]

Unfortunately, you may have to be a pioneer here. In the years I've been here, I have not seen this issue posted.

[The00Dustin]

I do believe this may have been posted about, possibly before Ilya joined the forums. I did a quick search and couldn't find it. The noise may have been a squeak vs a groan. I feel like I remember someone talking about lubricating something in the steering column. Regardless, the post may not have been directly about the noise, in which case it would have been about the cause of the seat not moving to the position where it was set on entry and/or exit. In that case, it was determined that it was because the steering wheel wasn't making it (because if the steering wheel or seat fail, the process stops). If that were your issue, or if you don't need the steering wheel to move, you could set it to the same position for entry and exit, however, if you want it moving, then you will certainly need to lubricate or replace something to resolve the noise issue (or wait until it breaks). Here are two posts I found searching for "auto seat steering" (so it may be likely that the issue was about the noise and I didn't search for the right thing):
auto-steering-wheel-and-seat-movement-t461618.html
auto-tilting-wheel-sliding-seat-feature-t549236.html

Note that both of those issues have a reply from me (two years apart, with the first one being in 2010) talking about a prior post, which is the one I am presumably remembering. Also note that due to my memory not being identic, I can't guarantee you that the post wasn't answered and/or deleted by a rogue mod who was later banned.

[Larz]

My steering wheel does that same mild groan only when moving up or down. Moving in and out it is silent. When I had the dealer check it, the end result was for a replacement. Apparently, the motor is NOT individually replaceable, cannot be lubricated, and cannot be simply switched out ... and it was described as an "extremely expensive" repair. However, if the wheel still moves with noise, it is NOT covered by my warranty and it was described as 'very expensive' to replace. However, if it stops moving in either direction it is covered under my warranty with a $50 deductible.
I decided to leave it as it is. If it breaks before 2019, or in the next 130,000 miles, it will be fixed via warranty. If it doesn't, it was never a true problem and just an annoyance.