The only time I use ECT-PWR is in the hills it seems to keep me in a lower gear for a better response out of the corners and I don't need as much braking going into the corners.

 

I couldn't imagine it being harmfull to the car since Lexus put it in. Lexus put it there to be used.

 

i would think the gas mileage would be worse with this on........................no?

 

Merged threads.

 

Let me address one thing I've seen questioned in this thread, but not accurately addressed.

FACT: With the ECT button engaged there is a quick shift.

Question(s): more heat?/less heat? -- better for trans?/worse for trans?

Answer: less heat, better for transmission

Info supporting answer: (This explination is over-simplified) In an automatic transmisson, there are things called Clutch Packs. They are steel plates and friction plates alternating in various quantities. A "smooth" shifting transmission accomplishes the "smoothness" by slowly applying pressure to the "Clutch Pack". This causes more slip within the pack, therefore more heat and more wear on the friction plates. If/when you change the transmisssion filter most of what you see will be friction plate material (think of sandpaper and the sand wearing off). When the transmission shifts quickly, the plates engage faster "harder" allowing less time for the friction material to be worn away. Hence the plates run cooler and last longer.

Some one is going to say..."well it changes more often which will cause more heat".... not enough heat to raise the overall temps of the transmission. Hopefully, you are in a gear more often then changing gears. If you are never in one gear more than a few seconds, then yes, more heat will be generated, and that is bad....but if you change gears every few seconds and NEVER leave the car in the same gear when driving ALL the time, you have bigger problems and probably shouldn't be on the road anyway... how hard would it to be consistantly changing gears 100% of the time you spend driving..(ie no time spent in a single gear)?

This kinda brings me to the "lifetime" fill on the transmission. I'm going to change my filter and the 1.5 liters (or whatever nominal amount of fluid is avail by removing the pan) regrdless of the "recomendation" in the owners manual. You can't changes physics folks, no matter how "smart" the Lexus engineers are...

and BTW, for what it's worth, I drive with the ECT button on all the time and I haven't noticed any change in MPGs.

 

On what do you base your claim that shifts are "quick" with ECT-Power mode?

because nothing in any documentation I've ever seen from Lexus, including the description of what the ECT-PWR mode does, suggests that is true.

 

Question: is the ECT power ON worse on gas if you are driving freeway?

 

i feel like i watch my car go through gas quicker when i drive on the freeway with the ECT ON,...............i could be just imagining things though........

 

Let me see if I can find my reference. Question for you...are you saying that you don't think that the transmission shifts quicker between gears?

 

how about gas useage?

 

CH-72 CHASSIS — A960E AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONELECTRONIC CONTROL SYSTEM

1. General

The electronic control system of the A960E automatic transmissions consist of the control functions listed
below.

Line Pressure Control (See page CH-40)
Based on the throttle opening angle and various signals, the ECM sends a signal to
solenoid valve SLT to generate line pressure that varies according to the engine outputand to allow smooth gear changes.

= more throtle, quicker change. Hope that helps.

 

And it per your previous posts, it certainly sounds as if you know what your talking about, so if you think this isn't correct please let me know.

 

It doesn't really...

because it doesn't mention ECT modes anywhere... which is what we are talking about.

You seem to be saying that it shifts "quicker" with higher pressure in ECT-POWER mode, and I'm looking for some evidence of that, because I've never seen anything prior to your post to suggest that is true.

If you check the earlier link I provided from Lexus on what ECT-POWER does it changes the shift pattern (when it shifts) and it changes some behavior as far as under what conditions it downshifts, upshifts, or holds a gear... but nothing in there mentions impacting transmission line pressure.

You're absolutely right that less slip when shifting is better for transmission life, I'm just looking for anything that proves ECT mode does that, because it'd be news to me (and everyone else as far as I know)

 

uh.... well let's look at it this way. Do you agree that the ECT PWR changes the throttle response. For my sake, let's say you do...

So if the throttle is increased then the signal sent to the ECU opens the valves differently, so the button does effect the change of the transmission. Obviously, the button itself only turns on and off an electrical signal -- if you want to be completely **** about it. There are a lot of things that go into the transmission shifting pattern, I'm simply stating that this is one of the inputs that has some effect on it.

 

I haven't used ETC in a while but from what I remember it completes a shift more quickly because it reacts faster to changes in throttle input. I would have to agree that line pressure is increased because the shifts are more aggressive regardless of road speed.