ECT and Overdrive

Why use ECT in 03 Tacoma TRD? I noticed the ride and breaking much smoother with ECT on but is it bad on my engine?

If I use ECT can I still turn off my overdrive when in the big city?

 

ECT changes the shift points for your tranny so it revs a bit more before shifting.

Some people keep it on all the time, I have mine off because the shift points are fine for me. If I'm going up a large hill, I turn ECT on and Overdrive off. I keep overdrive on all the time unless I'm ascending a large hill. Your manual should give you a bit of insight on ECT. As for the engine, it shouldn't cause any harm as long as you're not keeping it redlined.

 

In my opinion keep the ECT off for daily driving. Having the ECT on is a waste of gas and actually give you less torque. the 3.4 makes most of its torque between 1800-2500 rpms and having the ECT on puts you over that even in daily driving. So techniqually ur wasting more gas for less get up and go.

 

Thanks, so it sounds to me that ECT on and overdrive off are both for power. The manual breifly mentioned ECT which surprised me.

 

I'm just guessing because I'm no expert but if you talking about changing shift points it sounds to my like this might be a feature with Towing in mind. a lot of times when your towing simething the transmission tends to hunt for the right gear a bit more which causes un needed wear on the trans. Changing the shift points maybe an atempt to reduce some of the hunting that you get. I don't own your model Tacoma so I'm not really sure but from the posts above thats what this sounds like.

 

Yea, towing or when the engine's straining to get up a hill (as my 4cyl sometimes does in SF's larger hills). Supposed to help the engine stay in a sweet spot and not keep shifting up and down. Some people drive with it on all the time though and say they get slightly better mpg. I guess it all depends on what your commute's like and how light your foot is on the pedal.

 

x2!