My wife has a 1999 Hundai Avante, automatic. I don’t know if this car is available outside Korea, but this may be a generic thing anyway. Near the transmission shifter is a sort of toggle switch labeled ECT. I don’t think it means electroconvulsive therapy. The switch has three positions: PWR, HOLD, and a nameless in-between position. Yesterday my wife complained that the engine was idling way too fast, and I looked around and discovered that the switch was in the PWR position. I returned it to the in-between position, and all was well. The idle returned to normal, and my masculinity was re-confirmed. I went back inside, flexed my muscles, and told the woman to get me a beer. (Oh, not really. I get my own beer.)
I rarely drive, and haven’t owned a car in ten years. The last one was a '69 VW Combi Campmobile, a low-tech machine with no ECT switch. The owner’s manual for the Avante doesn’t seem to mention the switch. A Google search led me to some Lexus message boards where some people asked similar questions, but I didn’t find any answers. So my questions: What the heck is ECT? What does PWR do that just pressing the accelerator wouldn’t do? And what the heck is HOLD? (It seems to have no effect, at least at idle.)
This is mostly curiosity, since everything works fine when the switch is in the normal position. Still, I’d like to know. Can anyone help?
I can’t tell you specifically what ECT stands for, but, being an automatic transmission, I believe that what that switch does is control the shift points of the transmission. Between the three, one would shift lower down in the RPMs, for better fuel economy. The position opposite of this would hold the revs much higher, for a quicker, “sportier” drive, as most power from that type engine will comes from higher in the curve. You may want to test this by going for a drive, switching between modes, and noticing (if you have a tach) where the car shifts. Lacking a tach, listen to how high the engine revs between shifts. You may have to be fairly aggressive with the throttle to notice much difference.
I can’t tell you specifically what ECT stands for, but, being an automatic transmission, I believe that what that switch does is control the shift points of the transmission. Between the three, one would shift lower down in the RPMs, for better fuel economy. The position opposite of this would hold the revs much higher, for a quicker, “sportier” drive, as most power from that type engine will comes from higher in the curve. You may want to test this by going for a drive, switching between modes, and noticing (if you have a tach) where the car shifts. Lacking a tach, listen to how high the engine revs between shifts. You may have to be fairly aggressive with the throttle to notice much difference.
Squink hit it on the head Electronically Controlled Transmission
Typically these switches have two or possibly three positions.
Ecomony (or some other word or abbreviation meaning the same thing) Gives the smoothest shifts, and best gas mileage.
Sport (or power or something similar) Moves the shift points higher, more positive shifts, faster kickdown on the hiway (how soon the trans will downshift when passing)
The third position (probably not too common) is a winter mode where the trans starts in a gear higher then 1st, to limit wheel spin on slippery surfaces. On Volvo’s in winter mode the trans makes a third gear start in drive.
I have never seen one where the idle speed changed, but then again I don’t work on Hundai’s.
Hey, thanks! The car does have a tach, so I’ll try to make a little test run. (Of course, here in Seoul, it’s rare to get beyond second gear anyway, with all the traffic.)
The owner’s manual is in Korean, and all I really did was scan for the English letters ECT, and didn’t find them. At my reading speed, it would take a year to read every word. My wife could do it faster, but she lost interest as soon as the problem went away.
Anyway, altering the shift points makes sense to me. Still don’t really understand the change in idle speed, but then there’s a lot I don’t understand about cars these days. Thanks again!