Well after having the car a few weeks i finally remembered to try the ECT power button. I turned it on before i left the house and man what a huge difference it makes in performace.. I barely had to press the gas and the car just took off... Anyway can i press this button while driving? Someone told me that if you do its like having nitrous or something that the car just pulls a bit when you press that button... Is that true? I haven't done that yet and won't until i know its safe..

Thanks Tony

 

The ect switch in power mode allows the tranny to kick down a little quicker under wot. There is not a huge difference in performance between normal and power. Who ever told you its like having nitrous is handing you a line of bull.

 

Hey I have a 99 gs 300 and that pwr button helps out alot the whole car feels smoother and the engine sounds less strained and it does make a big difference imo.

 

You got me. The secret’s out about the power mode. When I switch it on, my suspension is stiffen by 50%, the engine gets a 40hp boost, and a rear wing spoiler deploys to increase down force. Now if I can only remember to keep that nitrous bottle filled.

 

lol

Tony
what else did the guy that said that's a 40hp button tell you

 

i think what the PWR/SNOW button does is remap the throttle response for specific performance traits. in PWR mode, the infamous lag is minimized by the ecu and the tranny downshifts sooner than usual when you stomp on the gas.

in SNOW mode, you get purely smooth, linear acceleration rates to prevent tire skid, no matter how hard to hit the pedal.

 

dunno about SNOW mode, dont have it in my car, but ECT (Electronic Controlled Transmission) Power is a tranny setting, nothing to do with engine or the ECU.

all it does it lhe trannsmission downsshifts quicker, and revs higher b4 changing gears. that down shift is what makes the car just take off.

 

in my 95 ES, the power mode is way more of a drastic change than in my GS. makes the trans in the ES very aggresive. in my GS I barely notice a diff.

 

My wife's 2000 es does not have a power mode - just a switch to turn off over drive.

 

hey rheiy-that's a bummer. I wonder when/why the ES doesn't have power button anymore?

 

doesn't the transmission have something to do with the engine? I also thought that the ECU had something to do with the shifting. There was a thread here not long ago that was about resetting the ECU and getting the GS to run completely different. The ECU learns the way the car is driven therefore controls the way the GS runs? i forget exactly what is was about but i do remember reading that the ECU learns and controls the car the way the driver drives. example, if the ECU is reset and the driver drives aggressively, the car will drive aggressively (shift more aggressively?) and if the driver drives very calmly when ECU is reset, the car drives very soft and does not shift so aggressively. but anyways... back on topic.

I don't notice a HUGE difference, but i do notice that the GS will shift quicker than when the ECT PWR is off.

alot of babble in there...

 

I guess cost cutting. Lexus also went with a single exhaust tip as well. I did like the look of the double tips on the older es. At least the car has HID's

 

From a dead stop, my gs shifts the same under wot in normal and power modes. If I'm crusing on the hwy, the tranny will down shift quicker in power mode. That's about it...no more no less.

 

don't know..

 

you don't need that for family car, that's why they have the is300

and yes you can push on the power button any time you want