I drive a 1995 ls400. I can tell a difference when I switch the ect from power to norm or vise versa. I was just wondering, does anyone know exactly what switching to power mode does to incur such a change in performance? I glanced through some threads and saw that on the next gen ls400 it just changes how it shifts, but they had said that it does a lot more for the 95-97. Thanks in advance for your responses!

 

on mine I feel the shift more, like a quick shift, other than that, no difference.

 

It does is what it says in your owners manual:

"In the POWER position, the “ECT PWR” light in the instrument
cluster is on and the transmission is shifted up at higher vehicle
speeds and shifted down more responsively than in the
NORMAL position."

When the LS400 was first introduced in 1989, I read in one of the auto magazines that setting the switch to PWR turned off or reduced the retardation of ignition timing at the moment of up-shift which normally makes up-shifts smoother. My guess is that this is still part of what the PWR button does. I distinctly remember auto magazines finding on the early LS400 that using the PWR button did not reduce accelleration times - mashing the throttle more vigorously accomplished the same results with the button in the NORM position.

 

Throttle Response is Sharpened so when you Punch it it downshifts Faster, and it can also reach red line with greater ease. The time between shifts is also extended a bit.

If im wrong please correct me.

 

i was always curious about this myself. If you plan to ever install nitrous on your LS400, i would wire your power wire to this so that when you want to use the "EXTRA POWER" in a bottle at the push of a button, just flip the "ECT PWR" switch. it would just make sence and make the ECT PWR switch much more usefull.

 

The next approach would be to wire up the ECT to the Flux Capacitor time circuits.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
that just made me laugh my A** off!

 

i drive the same model and year. All i've noticed for myself are the things people said above. in Normal mode i can get my RPMs up to about 3500 before it shifts up, but in PWR mode it stays in First gear all the way to about 5500. Also that it knows to go back down a gear when you're going a certain speed and suddenly want to go significantly faster.

I was wondering if anyone knows if in this year it actually effects the suspension, and #2, what "ECT" means. I thought it just meant "Extra"

-Nate

 

Zero effect on suspension. And ECT stands for Electronice Controlled Transmission if I recall

 

Down shifts sooner under part throttle conditions. No difference at WOT. For example going up a long hill it will downshift sooner (at a higher rpm). When accelerating from a stop it will upshift When the engine reaches a higher rpm for a particular throttle position as compared to having it off. When you are cruising and you suddenly accelerate (but don't floor it) it will down shift sooner giving better response. If you go WOT it may downshift sooner also giving a slightly shorter delay for the downshift to occur but from a stand still there will be no difference when flooring the car. Under extremely light throttle conditions I doubt there is any difference. Anyways I keep it on all the time and notice no difference in my mpg

 

my pwr ect button also gently disperses a faint orange fragrance...?

 

Frankly I use snow mode more the pwr mode when commuting. In stop and go traffic even normal is quite touchy. IMO power mode just simulates more foot. I can achieve the same in normal mode.

 

yea snow mode can be nice for stop and go stuff, but i still leave it in normal with VSC off in case i need (want) to quickly dart into a gap. if i'm not on the highway and weather is nice i pretty much always have VSC off. i could be totally wrong but in my mind at least the throttle response is a bit better because your throttle input no longer has to go through the TRAC ECU but i'm sure there's really no difference. i just find the VSC on these cars to be a bit intrusive especially if you need to quickly merge onto a new road

 

Vsc sucks when you are cornering wish you could reverse the reset that is when you start your car its off unless you manually turn it on

 

that's just the adrenaline