S Mode & ECT Use for Mountain Driving

Meaning anything along the lines of what you mentioned. In the particular example you've brought up, I don't believe the computer would automatically up shift. Thus you would be intentionally red lining it in 2nd gear. Or worse yet would be if you put it into S1 and stepped on it and just bounced off the red line constantly without up shifting it yourself (this would be worse at speed because 1st gear is a lower gear and is meant to be more of a crawler gear for low speeds, 2nd gear would somewhat tolerate the shenanigans better or at a higher speed than 1st but I'd imagine it still wouldn't be healthy for the truck). Remember, S mode is sequential mode and the number that comes after the S indicates the max gear you are telling the computer to be in. When you put it in S3, you're telling the truck "you have free range to shift UP UNTIL 3rd gear. DO NOT PASS 3rd gear". Which is exactly what the computer will have the truck do.

In the example above, you would be experiencing a high revving engine, slugging of the truck as the engine speed bounces off the rev limiter. Basically in that case you would have to be a really big fool to not realize what the truck is doing is NOT normal. And that is what I meant by "the computer won't let you do anything ridiculous as long as you don't do it intentionally." You would have to be blind, deaf, or completely out of touch with your senses to think that what the truck is doing in that scenario is normal unless of course you mean to do it.

 

Ok this is making more sense. So in my recent experience where I chose the wrong gear (4 instead of 3), that wasn’t a scenario where my ignorance would override the computer protecting it? Dude at work told me driving it where it stays at 2000 to 2500 rpm is bad for it and causes the transmission to heat up, whine, etc. That you don’t want to be at that too long. I was basically at that the entire 20 minute drive I did in S4. Is there any truth to what my coworker told me?

In normal driving I’m typically at 1.5k rpm, jumps up to 2 to change. Doesn’t go far past 2.5k even on big uphills. So typically it’s not in that RPM range that it was in when I was in s4. Are the S ranges higher by default?

 

redlining the engine isn't going to damage it unless it's low on oil. that's the purpose of the rev limiter. your coworker is full of shit and doesn't know what they are talking about. going up a mountain you are going to be at 3500-5000 rpm sometimes and it's completely fine. what i do is i bought one of those $20 bluetooth OBD adapters and monitor all the temps on my phone. The only thing i like to keep my eye on is the transmission temps if you are pushing it hard. even so, i've never seen temps higher than 220 on the torque converter. The cooling system is pretty robust. Been monitoring engine temps and it stays steady at 185-195 no matter how hard i push it.

 

I was going DOWN the mountain. Not up. Did 2K to 2.5K rpm the whole trip down. About 20 mins total.

 

Check your tach and note where the literal red line is at and compare that to the line for 2 and 2.5.
Your engine doesn’t know or care which way you are going. Cryptolimes point is that 2-2.5 cannot be bad for your engine if rpms are naturally higher than that while climbing.

 

I’ve driven cross country for hours upon hours and days upon days at constant rpms of 2500-4000rpm, as have millions of individuals in automobiles of all makes and models. This is normal operation of a motor vehicle, barely exceeding the very lowest level of the performance spectrum.

You probably should not listen to your coworker or anybody else you’ve consulted before Tacoma World because after reading this entire thread, it seems like the advice and information you’ve been given about how to operate a motor vehicle has been absolutely, monumentally horrible.

 

yea, i know. it doesn't make a difference. You were asking if RPMs were going to cause damage. It won't. You want to be above 3000 RPM if you need heavy engine braking. Any more questions?

 

Ok my rpm’s were descending. To be honest I’ve never paid attention so I don’t know what they’d be descending in regular D. As with most things - I’m overthinking it and paranoid I caused damage. Even tho it seems quite clear that would be near impossible. Forgive me. I’m a nut job

 

My only remaining questions are :
1) Will S3 definitely give me over 3K for the engine braking?
2) Does this thing auto engine brake on its own? I don’t have hill assist or anything other than S Mode and ECT in mine - but I did feel my engine rev going down a small hill the other day in regular D, similar to what my old Honda Fit automatic CVT did on its own.

thanks for all your help. I know I’m annoying. I truly Am ignorant when it comes to vehicles. At least I’ve learned some good things here lol

 

1. Depends on your speed
2. not really, sometimes it does downshift for you but not consistently. Use s-mode for engine braking. Just keep downshifting until you feel the truck start to slow.

 

Haha - you nailed it. I overthink everything, but I’m also self aware. You ain’t wrong! I’m just gonna try and go enjoy my new ride and stop worrying about it.

 

FYI, if you put your truck in reverse at 50mph all that will happen is your reverse camera will appear on the screen… nothing will blow up

 

What if I also say Beetlejuice 3 times while looking at the screen?

 

Then I believe you enter cheat level 100 and get a free popsicle???

But for real…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xe4cm5cTkLc

 

I have had to emergency brake on that hill more than once while in cruise at 70mph. Come around a corner and an 18 wheeler in my lane going 20mph. No issue at all braking.

 

Seeing as to how your location says BC, I imagine its pretty hard for brakes to overheat in your climate. Out here in Southern California, your brakes get hot AF without even turning the truck on lol. Now imagine hot day (over 100 degrees F), going up about a 7k elevation mountain in a matter of 20 min with cruise control on and then descending said mountain while essentially the brakes are being pressed most of the time (not by me, but by the cruise control), then all of a sudden you get a 65 mph to 0 mph emergency stop taking place while descending. Pretty certain if you touched the brakes with anything, the item would just melt at that point lol.

 

https://www.autocliniccare.com/blog/how-cold-weather-impacts-your-brakes

 

Noted. Guess your hill isn't as steep as the mountain I was on? or perhaps you were using regular cruise control vs radar cruise? Or the traffic wasn't as bad on your hill where the car (using radar CC) unleashes full throttle and then rides the brakes to slow down in a rinse and repeat process constantly over the course of a 40 minute drive and tops it off with an emergency brake event while on a very steep descent? I dont know to be honest. Could be any number of factors. What I do know for a fact is that it happened to me.

 

i agree that brakes are going to get extremely hot using cruise control in the mountains. I was just wondering if brakes actually don't get as hot in cold climates and i found that link, so i posted it. turns out, brakes get just as hot, if not hotter.

 

Indeed, I didn't know that either. Glad you found that information and shared it! All I'm saying though is that they really should put a light that turns on in the gauge cluster letting us know that cruise control is using the brakes.