JULIAN

What year did they start installing the automatic transmission that had the adaptive ecu ??? Also is it better to get a car with it or without it for performance reasons ??? I thought I have read somewhere that if you drive around pretty easy for awhile that it gets used to your driving pattern, so that the next time you wanted to really race the car it may not be as fast since it had learned that your driving patterns were not very aggressive, and in order to get it to shift more aggresssively is to drive aggressively for the next few days to relearn. I would think this would be pretty bad for the performance minded person if he wanted to get some good times or was going to race he would have to tell the person to please wait a few days for him to let his car relearn the new driving patterns. What are your thoughts on this ???? TIA

JBrady

I don't know the answer but your assumption seems logical. I would think that disconnecting the battery for 15 minutes should reset the engine and tranny ecu's back to factory specs and would generate the best track times (assuming conservative driving had calmed the beast).

JULIAN

that the adaptive ECU tranny is not really for the performance minded indivual or actually hinders perfomance. Whereas the regular auto tranny from the earlier cars 91-94 are better for performance, am I correct to assume this ????

PlatinumSC

I spoke with a Lexus tech about this very subject. This is a summary of what I know and what he said. Correct me if I am wrong:

1) The ECT-i is has been standard on the SC400 since its inception. The only change made to the 400 tranny was the addition of a 5th gear starting in '98
2) The ECT (no intelligence) was standard on all SC300s through the '97 model year.
3) The ECT-i (w/ intelligence) is a pretty slick system. Yes, it take 20 minutes to clear the driving style computer. I was told it takes about a total of two hours of "***** to the wall" acceleration to "train" the tranny for that kind of style. However, this does result it a longer hold on the first gear.....resulting in a jerk when the engine is cold.
4) Be careful if you have a '97 and up coupe and you try to clear the computer. Make sure the key is no where near the key hole because the cars feature the in key transponder. When you black the on board system, it will rely on the key. If the key is in the system when it goes blank....you just bought yourself a 2K repair.