Where I live in these mountains it's sometimes hard to judge whats best. Going up and down all day and having flat spots or straight aways where I can hit 60-70 for a few minutes and then have to slow down to 35 for a series of curves can be hard on the Tacoma. I'm driving with a 2.7 and auto tranny and it does great in these mountains but, shifting in and out of OD all day would drive you nuts around here. If I'm off road and doing 35 or less all day I will turn OD off. Never seen much difference when using the ECT button. Mike

 

The ECT keeps the converter locked for the most part, which is beneficial for towing and hills. If you leave ECT off and cruise down the freeway, notice how when you hit the gas at 70 or so your torque converter will lock and bring you from like 2100rpm up to 2500rpm, and if you still need more power it will downshift to 3rd and put your well over 3k rpm, if you put ECT on you will run at that 2500rpm pretty consistant and your rpm shift points are higher. Those rpm examples are about what I see with my 3.4 auto.

 

Thanks Josh , but I thought I read somewhere that you were not supposed to use it like that. It was just for faster takeoffs like when you are merging with traffic on a freeway. Do you notice much increase in gas consumption?

 

I've always towed with OD off in any auto vehicle.

If your doing serious towing I'd get a good aux. cooler for the transmission. Sometime the factory incorporates a cooler into the rad but this really isn't enough for towing any sort of load.
I'd also put a transmission temp. gauge into the vehicle. Keep an eye on the heat that your trans is putting out.

 

350 degrees means failure.

Every degree above 200 degrees shortens the life of the fluid and the trans.

SO, OD towing is really dependent on trailer weight, since weight and incline drive up the temp.

So, if you want to use OD, get a cooler and a temp gauge, otherwise leave it out of OD.

 

We towed about 900 pounds worth a furniture from Oklahoma to Georgia with OD with no problems. Ours is the 2000 Auto 3.4.

 

I think the theme here is that of course the vehicle can do it. The question is should you ever do it without a temp gauge and cooler.

I don't usually tow in OD, but have a small cooler for mine but no temp gauge. I think I had better get one though...

 

Huh? The auto tranny never starts off in OD anyway and rarely goes into OD in the city unless you're coasting to a stop or going pretty fast.

 

Thank you, and as I was stating we did tow a decent amount of weight a long distance with no problems from the transmission.