Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

The snow switch starts you out in second gear is what I heard, makes it so you can't peel it and have to go slowly. it is useful at times when there is alot of snow.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

As I understand, the snow button reduces throttle, rather than starting in 2nd gear. At least this is how it works in my GS.

SC400Zulu

Me and my Fiancé confirmed feeling the heat in the lower back portion of the seats as well as under our butts.

And yes. The track on/off is on the left side by the steering column. The SNOW setting is the same switch I use for ECT POWER (higher rpm shifts), on the center console by the ****. Right click for ECT on/off, left click for SNOW. Both settings light up on the dash. The SNOW is yellowish orange color & the ECT a green color that reads.

I guess this was the fully loaded version I have. Didn't have any of these features listed when I bought my Sc Dec 3rd. I'm still learning more about her.

irondonkey

it was like 10* today....

i cri evry tim :`(

SC400Zulu

Drove in fresh snow. The SNOW switch reduces throttle. I can go 60% throttle and still be well below 3k rpm. Makes the car feel like a 4 cylinder. Switch it off and it wakes the hell up.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Isn't that exactly what TRAC does, reduce throttle? Is the only difference that the Snow button gives you control over the behavior?

SC400Zulu

No. With TRAC (TCS) it is either on or off. I usually have it on, unless I'm trying to burn rubber. But it is NOT enough in the SNOW. With TRAC on, it does blink on the dash to show wheel slip, which is obvious to feel anyway. But with the SNOW switch active, the rpms stay really low. If I floor it, it does accelerate, but with much less torque. When I floored it briefly with SNOW, it didn't go beyond 2500rpm. Just refuses to spin crazy. With it off & TRAC on, it can still spin at pretty high rpms.

Trust a first hand driver in bad Chicago SNOW. It makes a big difference. Lexus didn't just slap on a feature that isn't necessary. Without this snow feature, I'd have to be way more careful with the throttle.

oldManTan

i was stuck today, wish i had a snow switch lol

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

I wonder how hard it would be to rig up something like the Snow or TRAC features? The SC's take on traction control is so rudimentary -- just cut power -- it seems like you could pretty closely duplicate it by just loosening the throttle cable when driving in bad weather for extended periods.

SC400Zulu

True. But still a nice feature kept simple. I'm glad all options still work perfectly, 16yrs later.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

K.I.S.S. does have its advantages.

SC400Zulu

Excuse me for being slow, but what's that stand for?

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Keep It Simple Stupid. Applies to pretty much everything in life.

scENFORCER

Curious to see a picture of your TRAC button (as well as your engine bay) as I wasnt aware that any 98+ SC's had a designated TRAC button. Mine doesnt have anything, nor does it have heated seats, but it does have the ECT/SNOW mode button (maybe that just means that mine didnt come with the snow package?).

Anyways, in my old 95 the TRAC button almost acted like ABS, it would pump the brakes on the wheel that was spinning. "ECONOMY" (equivalent to SNOW I think?) mode (might have been called something else also, cant remember) started the car in 2nd gear, and PWR mode just increased the RPMs by 500 before changing gears.

In my current '99 SNOW mode changes how much power is given to the throttle in all gears. PWR mode doesnt just change the transmission timing now, but it changes a whole whack of other things that really liven the car up. So thats one of the upgrades to the newer SC's is that rather simply adjusting a few parameters to change the cars behaviour, it changes a lot more things to change the cars behaviour to a more significant degree. Likely a result of it being OBD2 now.

...anyways, on to the purpose of the thread, heated seats. Mine doesnt have them, and I miss them dearly even though I dont drive my car in the winter (mornings can still be cold on my baby-butt).
I found the following video on YouTube which makes a heated seat install look easy (although I'm a little worried about separating the leather from the foam in the seat and not being able to get it back nicely.


..if I were to choose this route, I would install the heaters in the backrest as well, and also look into a way to wire in a a multi-level switch into the stock heated switch location (guess I would need to buy a new gated shifter bezel since mine doesnt have these buttons), maybe using RX switches?

irondonkey

that is too much work lol

i would just buy some seat covers, and put that on top of the seat.

actually, i'm just going to do that. LOL