PSA: ECT button increased efficiency by ~2 MPG

WallyWest said:
Interesting. It sounds like you spend most of your commute in OD.

I have a very short commute on local roads, and I rarely if ever get above 3rd gear. Since turning ECT on I've noticed an increase in gas mileage. By at least 1 - 2 mpg.

Doesn't make sense of course, all modern cars are designed to get into high gear as fast as possible, for gas mileage.

I don't know, worked for me. I like the way it drives with ECT on as well. It seemed to hunt for gears before, somewhat sluggish response overall. With ECT on gear changes are less and it just feels more responsive.
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60% on OD with cruise on would be a good estimate. The rest is surface streets up to 45mph.

Going off miles driven / fill-up is pretty rocky due to:
- Are you going off actual miles driven? Speedo is known to be off a bit even with factory tire size. I use an app called speedview to log actual MPH and distance driven. This also helps in calibration when you use a tool like ultragauge
- Fill-ups are not consistent. They can be close if you use the same pump / same time / temp in the day and you do not over-fill. Stop the fill when the pump clicks off the first time
- Route driven needs to be consistent. Luckily I drive the same route Monday through Friday with little variance. My summer and winter MPG usually will average down to the decimal point unless I do a road trip. Says a lot for a well calibrated ultragauge and my boring driving style (when in one of the 4runners) :) !

I agree on the feel. I like ECT better. I noticed a reduction on hunting for gears too. Once my full test is complete, I will switch back to off and see what I think.
 
I just completed my first tankful on a '99 LTD with a supercharger, I gained about 1.7 MPG over he last three tanks (I log every tank and repair/upgrade. Should be interesting to see if it holds up over the next 3 or 4 tanks.
 
Wjktdi said:
I just completed my first tankful on a '99 LTD with a supercharger, I gained about 1.7 MPG over he last three tanks (I log every tank and repair/upgrade. Should be interesting to see if it holds up over the next 3 or 4 tanks.
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I know that for those of us with superchargers, the ECT Power plays very nice with the transmission. Otherwise I accelerate faster than the transmission can keep up with. I am a selective lead foot, for my commute I drive pretty conservative, actually to save gas. Give me an open road in the mountains and I'm off and running!

For those of you posting recent readings that have jumped, know that some states change their fuel blend in summer and winter. California just recently switched to their summer blend. I go from about 16.7-17 MPG's in winter to 18-19 in the summer (depends on where I'm driving). I've had the ECT on the whole time this tank on summer blend. Although, it plays so nice with the transmission now that as long as it doesn't go down I might keep it on. It also eliminates all ping from my engine (I only had low RPM ping) and somewhere buried in the supercharger thread is a dyno showing the ECT button gaining over 5 free HP.
 
twa318 said:
This may be common knowledge, but I wanted to post for anyone else like me who was ignorant about the ECT button.

In my almost 6 years of ownership of this SR5 2wd I never used the ECT button. I didn't see any reason for it. A few months ago I read a post on t4r about how using the ECT button will increase your miles traveled per gallon.

I was skeptical, so I decided to do a test. I enter all my fill ups into an ios app called AccuFuel. The data from ~16,000 miles has the highest MPG hit without the ECT button as 18.44, and that was 100% highway. My average MPG was 17.30 MPG.

For the last 2,100 miles driven I've had the ECT button on, and I'm now averaging 19.01 MPG with 60/40 city/highway miles. That is almost 30 miles more per tank with nothing else changed except pressing a button.

Sorry if this has been beaten to death already, but I figured if I didn't know about the ECT button's MPG powers then maybe this post can help someone else out.
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Do you have stock wheels and suspension?
 
And the results are in... I got... 18.59 MPG. Normal range.

ECT did not increase my mileage. I did just put the AirAid kit on, and that might...
 
My mileage was not increased, in fact it decreased. I have only tried it once though. I went from 21 MPG to 19 MPG all highway on a stretch from Ohio to Colorado. In conjunction, after I turned it on it was the first time i ever had a P0770 code pop up.

I don't seem to have any slippage or issues with the tranny, so I'm hoping it is purely the solenoid.
 
After reading about the ECT button a while back, I've always had it on. Even when I had my 98. I do notice a difference so I keep it on all the time.

When I sold my 98 the buyer was concerned that it wouldn't pass smog because the ECT light was on. I actually laughed in front of him and explained what it was. He didn't get it lol
 
I've had mine on for the last 6 months and haven't noticed any difference at all in MPG. Heck, I don't even notice a difference in the way it shifts. All feels the same to me.

The only difference I've noticed in MPG is when I switched from Smiths gas to Chevron gas. Seemed to go up a half a MPG or so. Think I'm up to 13.5 or so.
 
tommyd1nes said:
This may be a stupid question. But what does ECT Stand for?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Electronically Controlled Transmission. The ECU can change the shift points under moderate to heavy throttle to higher RPM's for more usable power. Newer cars will call it a "Sport/Power-Mode".
 
Latest tank is consistent : 1.7 MPG increase over average of five tanks prior using the switch. I do like the way the truck shifts.
 
After 8 tanks, I don't think I am gaining any MPG's. 19.2 every time, but it shifts nice, so if I'm not hurting anything, I'll leave it on.
 
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