Chsbrgr
New member
I'm guessing the white 4" you got means snow...Therefore and hence "S" stands for SNOW MODE.:nod:
Switching from shift mode to drive mode
- Thread starter Happy 1
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I'm guessing the white 4" you got means snow...Therefore and hence "S" stands for SNOW MODE.:nod:
cbreze
Member
Sometimes I rev it a bit as I shift down to make for a smoother transition. Something about bringing the gears your meshing with up to the same speed. Used to do this with my other standard shift cars. I find this helpful coming down hills when I might be going a little to fast and want to slow down more quickly. The tranny responds back to me with a very smooth transition rather than a more lunge-ing, jerky downshift. I like it, the runner likes it. Since I drive around in "S" mode in 4th all the time(5th is for highway) its easy to downshift when appropriate. I live in a hilly town, lots of snow at times and being able to stay in a certain gear is very helpful. For upshifting I just move the lever up as needed. I find myself staying in 4th most of the time and letting the tranny do its thing. No sense in going into 5th for around town speeds. This is my 5th Toyota and I'm easy on brakes and never messed up a tranny. I usually get 100k before my first brake job.
Not towing in 'overdrive' is an outdated practice.
Back in the 'olden' days (1980s), transmissisons such as the AOD had issues where high torque in 4th gear (aka towing on the interstate) could cause the OD band to slip, overheat the band, and send band friction material everywhere. At best you lost OD, at worst you grenaded the trans as every orifice filled with friction material. GM's equivalent tranny had the same issue. You could fix the problem by installing a stronger OD servo, and a wider OD band.
This isn't a problem nowadays as OEMs have improved transmission design. The only issue you have to worry about towing in 5th in our 4runners is overheating the trans fluid due to torque converter slip because of our undersized trans coolers. Towing in the tallest gear with the A750 isn't inherently bad like it was for AODs.
I actually discovered an a great alternative to having the 4runner shift into higher years in rush hour stop and go.
I own the 2015 Limited and I got fed up with the traffic particular the stop and go cause I know the runner was tying to preserve gas by shifting to the highest possible gear. So when I began to shift it from D to S I noticed that despite traffic, say.. 10mph, i'll be on 3rd and 20mpg was 4th! the issue is that acceleration becomes a problem, so you lay into the gas a bit to get it going.
The solution. Shift it over to S mode and estimate the the average speed and keep their. Even when you stop. Basically you lock the 4runners transmission from exceeding the selected speed. Instantly, my 4runner gained life! the throttle became liner, RPM stayed blew 5000, but the looks on peoples faces when a big 4runner is hauling ass with out effort. Priceless.
The beutiful thing is that the 4runner actually holds that gear! unlike other vehicles where they still shift regardless. You say third, it's doing third.
I own the 2015 Limited and I got fed up with the traffic particular the stop and go cause I know the runner was tying to preserve gas by shifting to the highest possible gear. So when I began to shift it from D to S I noticed that despite traffic, say.. 10mph, i'll be on 3rd and 20mpg was 4th! the issue is that acceleration becomes a problem, so you lay into the gas a bit to get it going.
The solution. Shift it over to S mode and estimate the the average speed and keep their. Even when you stop. Basically you lock the 4runners transmission from exceeding the selected speed. Instantly, my 4runner gained life! the throttle became liner, RPM stayed blew 5000, but the looks on peoples faces when a big 4runner is hauling ass with out effort. Priceless.
The beutiful thing is that the 4runner actually holds that gear! unlike other vehicles where they still shift regardless. You say third, it's doing third.
DesertCanyons
New member
S mode trans selection & overdrive
You shouldn't downshift into S when you're cruising down the highway at 65 mph. If you drop below 55 you can switch without sending the engine RPM too high. You can drive in 4th at 65 but the engine will be rev'ed pretty high.
S mode is great for winding roads and traffic. It takes the car out of overdrive, aka 5th gear, and keeps it from going there. In 5th gear the vehicle will stay in 5th as you decelerate from highway speeds, coasting all the way to nearly a full stop or until you accelerate at anything less than about 50 mph.
Generally, you're not going to need to stay in 4th gear if your cruising over 55 mph, so go back to D or up-shift into 5th. If you're laboring uphill and/or you punch the gas pedal or you're towing up a grade, the truck will downshift to 4th anyway.
You shouldn't downshift into S when you're cruising down the highway at 65 mph. If you drop below 55 you can switch without sending the engine RPM too high. You can drive in 4th at 65 but the engine will be rev'ed pretty high.
S mode is great for winding roads and traffic. It takes the car out of overdrive, aka 5th gear, and keeps it from going there. In 5th gear the vehicle will stay in 5th as you decelerate from highway speeds, coasting all the way to nearly a full stop or until you accelerate at anything less than about 50 mph.
Generally, you're not going to need to stay in 4th gear if your cruising over 55 mph, so go back to D or up-shift into 5th. If you're laboring uphill and/or you punch the gas pedal or you're towing up a grade, the truck will downshift to 4th anyway.
Does anyone else feel like the throttle response is better in S mode? Especially around town, I always get the impression that getting started from a red light is a nicer experience in S, even if it's S5. No idea why (maybe it's disabling some Eco thing?), or it might be a placebo, but I definitely switch over most of the time I'm driving around.
MaddoxPics
New member
Can someone explain how the 'S' mode works. We have a ton of mountains here in California and I assume it's good to use that when going down the passes for more engine braking?
Just not trying to destroy the vehicle. Never had a shift thing like that in our CR-V.
Also does anyone use this offroading?
Just not trying to destroy the vehicle. Never had a shift thing like that in our CR-V.
Also does anyone use this offroading?
Ron4RNevada
New member
I'm always in "S" when off-road whether it's in 4HI or 4LO. In 4LO 1st and 2nd gear almost no need for ever touching the brake pedal. In fact that's why I rarely use the DAC.
jwkilgore
New member
It tells the automatic transmission to limit the maximum gear to whichever gear you have it set to. The transmission still works exactly the same, except instead of a 5-speed you convert it to a 4-speed (or lower) by simply not using the higher gears.
In old auto transmissions you could do the same thing, just it was linear instead of +/-. You would have "D", "3", "2", and "1" instead of "D" and "S" with +/-.
So when driving down a mountain you can go to "S" and set it to a lower gear as needed (max is 4... you cannot shift into 5/overdrive in "S" mode). The engine compression will help keep your speed down and reduce brake wear.
I almost always have it in "S" when off road. Helps keep speed down so I don't hit rough spots too hard. You gain so much torque in 4Lo lots of the time I'm just idling along controlling speed purely by shifting.
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