What does the ECT button do, Really?

[D Farms]

dont forget to shift into 2 for twice as much mileage on the highway.

 

[Bill Bachman]

dont forget to shift into 2 for twice as much mileage on the highway.

Your quite funny :blah:

 

[D Farms]

a lot of people dont know this, but I learned the L on the transmission stands for low fuel consumption.

 

[papapoopski]

a lot of people dont know this, but I learned the L on the transmission stands for low fuel consumption.

The R on the shifter also stands for "Rrrrreally Low Fuel Consumption". Our rear windows roll down to enhance the usability of this feature.

 

[Nunyabiz]

I get slightly better MPG with ECT on in 100% city/stop and go type driving around my particular town which is rather hilly. Can barely go 1 mile in any direction without going up or down hill.

So I keep it on around town and just prior to getting on the highway I click it off. You get better mileage with it off on highway.
If I were towing I would obviously keep it on along with OD off

 

[AZ4Running]

ECT is like power mode for the trans. It changes the shift point to a more agressive point ie a higher rpm. Tbis always the mot I r to put more power out fir sporty driving, towing, off roading or any place you need more high rpm power. The owners manual states that for normal driving and better fuel economy to leave the ECT off. I need to test this for myself. I wilk do 1 tank of all ECT off and one with it on and compare results. I will post back with results in a few weeks.

 

[JayRolla]

I have also found better mileage with it ON. Here in CO lots of rolling hills throughout citys. With it off the trans likes to shift very early, then when hitting hill you have to mash gas to get the trans to downshift. Which wastes gas. With it ON the tranny will down shift too first lets say around a right 90* turn and you can smoothly gas up the hill shifting like ti should without mashing gas to get a downshift. I think the trans should have been build with ECT as the normal shift points and an even higher shift point if activated. Leaving it off in a rolling hill city makes the 4runner feel like a real dog.

 

[Limbwalker]

Just this year Ive started using mine a LOT. all the weight of camping gear and the RTT up top made me think some better shift points were in order... It really helps! Downshifts on mtn passes much easier and always seems to be in a better rpm range. I am getting 17 mpg at 65-70 with 33" tires,SC and basically a parachute up top. Not too shabby.
This combined with the overdrive off allowed me to give a newer 4.0 Taco with stock tires a real run for its money recently, lol. Couldnt pull away from him, but he couldnt either

 

[Brique]

I had a camry (think it was a '94) and the ect had "pwr", "norm", and "econ". Looks like they figured over time that people were just going to use pwr or econ and got rid of the middle setting.

 

[02SE]

The R on the shifter also stands for "Rrrrreally Low Fuel Consumption". Our rear windows roll down to enhance the usability of this feature.

No, No it's common knowledge that the "R" is for "Race".

 

[4Runner4TW]

I never really use mine but I did a few weekends ago when I had 5 people and all our gear for an overnight stay in the mountains. I was amazed how well it keep the RPMs in a zone where torque was available to maintain speeds and get up the large hills.

 

[JtuckerSvces]

Wouldnt downshifting into higher rpms mean worse gas mileage. If staying one gear down is the key, why not drive around with the o/d button off? BTW mine seems to shift at the same rpms regardless if the ect button is on.

We only use o/d when cruising flat ground with maintained speed. other than this o/d stays off.

 

[T4R2014]

Mine would be a complete dog when merging into highways unless I had ECT on. After I serviced the transmission it seemed get rid of that doggishness when not in ECT. I actually like it better when ECT is not on now.

 

[St Runner]

My ect button makes my power antenna go up and down, doesn't do much to my shifting.

 

[shouldbeasy]

Does anyone know the purpose of the ECT button on the dash of the 99 4R? Does it boost anything? Does it set the computer to run better? Is it just a play pretty?

When I had my rig dyno'd to tune my supercharger the technician played with the ECT and discovered it does end up adding rear wheel horsepower to the overall curve.

I think it was around 15hp end result net - gained slowly over the curve. It's been a while since I looked at the curves but it was definitely noticeable.

EDIT = 6 hp gained, 19ft*lbs of torque with the ECT ON.

 

[1996_Valencia_Owen]

Wow, that's pretty interesting. Is that power after the SC, or before he put it on?

 

[rallypoint_1]

Good numbers on the S/C����

I like using the "ECT" keep the rpm's up.

 

[shouldbeasy]

Wow, that's pretty interesting. Is that power after the SC, or before he put it on?

After the SC was installed and the 7th injector - rear wheel horsepower on a Mustang Dynometer with my 35" Yokohama winter tires.

 

[nbizzle]

I'm Excited to Try out the ECT!

Sweet! Better response and less sluggish is what I gather from reading the threads! Any opinions on how this effects the lifespan of the engine?

 

[BigKitty]

That's great news, I'm going to try it on for a while and see. I've used it rarely and liked the response