My ECT Power indicator light just came on. Does anyone know what that is and what needs to be done for it to be cleared. Any help would be much appreciated.

Your ect light isn't a bad thing. What year do you own? Ect is a button you can push to allow your 4runner to hold it's gear for longer and at higher rpm's. If you have a 2nd hen then it should be behind your automatic shifter and have a green stripe across it. You use it when you need te extra power like going uphills, towing and merging/passing.

If you have a 3rd gen then your button should be on the dash above the radio.

Or if it's a pre-'99 3rd gen it will be on the center console by the ebrake.

Like this ECT button on a 97 4runner.

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Yup.

Thanks, this helped me out. I thought it was randomly coming on and going off.....I have the ebrake area filled with CDs and I've been driving my '98 for over a year without realizing....must've kept hitting the button. Would this cause more or less gas to be used (while in ECT mode)?

you'll use more gas when using ECT, it extends the shift points causing you to have higher RPMs before shifting. It's useful for towing or passing as you can get a little bit better acceleration.

I think it depends on the driving you do too. I seem to get better mpgs with the ECT button on. But I live in the mountains and shifting at higher rpms helps keep your momentum on hills. When I turn the ECT off, it shifts faster but lags a little more. Sometimes it has to do an extra downshift to make it up the rest of the hill which I think probably uses a lot more fuel than holding a lower gear.

I think the higher rpms your engine is turning doesn't always mean it's sucking more gas. It will take a little more in general, but how open the throttle is really accounts for the majority of how much fuel is being used. In other words, I think 3/4 throttle in a higher gear (lower rpms) will suck more gas going the same speed than say, 1/2 throttle in a lower gear (higher rpms). It may be different on a hill vs. flat too, I dunno.

I think that's why they say lower gears will help mpgs if you have bigger tires (and that has proven true on mine). It's better to run higher rpms but not need to throttle it so hard to get the tires up to speed. Bogging down like I used to with stock gears sucked gas fast!

ECT isn't a mode. It stands for Electronically Controlled Transmission.

The switch has a POWER position and NORMAL position.
In the POWER position the trans shift points and Torque Converter lock-up occur later. The engine winds out longer, resulting in more power/quicker acceleration.
In the NORMAL position, the quicker shift points and earlier TC lock-up result in better MPG.