how to test ect button?
 

the ect light on my dashboard isnt working, i just realized that today. is the ect light permanently on when the button is on, or just when the transmission downshifts? i'll test to see if it works tommorow on the way to school on the interstate. i seem to remember it turning on a while back, but im not sure??

When you push the button, the light should stay on all the time.

i would think that if the lights not working then the circuits not working. easy test is by accelerating as fast as you can without the ect on and then with the ect on. the ect button changes the shift pts so when it is on, the tranny should hang on to each gear longer allowing for higher revs.

when you have ECT on you transmission shifts more aggresively, in my truck with an auto and I push the ECT button the light stays on the whole time and I click it and the light shuts off. I am not sure whether it will work if the light isn't working. It could be just the bulb or it could be the circuitry. Tdubb05 has the easiest and cheapest way to figure out if it is working. The change is noticeable!

I would test it by getting up at the higer rpms and switch back and forth, itf it changes gears when you press the button, and changes back twhen you up press the button, it works.

mine flickers in and out all the time., if the button is pushed in , the ect is still on right???

WEll it is a mechanical buton. If the wires are loose, or the electrical contact are worn out in the button, it may not stay on when the button is machanically on.

i could swear in my '00 4runner the ect button was the type where if it was on, it clicked "in" and when it was off, it clicked "out". as in its like a pen, it comes out a little when on and all the way when off. is yours not like that?

i'm not really sure when it's considered off and on but when the button is pushed in the tranny shifts normally, and when the button is out, then the tranny shifts more agressively and an orange light that says "ECT" comes on on the dash.

yep the button stays depressed when it is on. It pops back up when it is off. Machanically the button could function great, but electrically it could be fried.