Hello everyone. I have a question about my '95 Toyota Camry. I have a button near my shifter that says Etc. Power and was just wondering what that does exactly. I took a look in the manual and all it told me was it gave the car more power in acceleration. But I was wondering if anyone had any more info on what it does and if its bad to use it too often.

Thanks.

 

Thats called your overdrive. I normally drive with it on, the only time I disengage it is when im going downhill and I want to maintain a certain speed. Driving with the overdrive on not only gives you more power, but when driving freeway speeds it helps fuel efficiecy as well. hope this helps.

 

Thank you, Octopulse, but that button is not the overdrive. The overdrive button is directly on the shifter, while the Etc. Power button is on the panel below the shifter near the P.

 

The ECT button just changes the shift pattern of the transmission. It will downshift sooner on acceleration and I think also stay inlower gear longeras well. I don't know if you have a 4 or 6 but on my car it downshifts out of O/D very quickly whenthe engine starts to load even with ECT off. I rarely use ECT, it's a 4 cyl'd Camry after all.

 

there's really nothing wrong with using the power button often, but it will cause a little more wear and tear on parts as pedro has mentioned, it will hold your gear shift points up to a higher rpm so you have more horsepower and torque readily available for you. Typically better to use it in hill climbing situations and those rare rare days you take a camry to a track!

Your mpg's will lower too as you're driving for longer periods of time in higher rpm range, burning more fuel.

 

Ah, thank you both.