Offroad-Express

There are a couple of buttons/switches in my Toyota surf and I am not 100% sure what they do. I have my theories but after facts.


1) There is a switch which has 'hard/normal' written on it. When I switch this a little green 'Hard' appears on the display with a little picture of what I think looks like suspension.

I think this is suppose to make the suspension harder.... but not 100% sure. Was wonder what is the use of this switch and when should it be changed from normal to hard.

2) The other is a button down near the gear sticks. It has ECT power written on it. When clicked ECT power appears on the display. What is the point of this button and when should it be used?

1st button is hard for on road and soft for offroad .... dunno abt second button as drive a safari

Normal/hard alter shock absorber rate - hard gives harder ride. I use hard on road and normal offroad in my Prado.

ECT is the electronic transmission control. Power revs engine higher before changing gear. I don't use mine at all, but in other vehicles I use power when towing.

Thanks for the info.

I have been doing the opposite, using soft/normal on road and changing it to hard for off road.... well did a bit of testing and could not tell the difference when off road. Would keep it on soft for offroad use now.

I have had a play with the same soft/hard button on my fathers Surf, didn't notice any difference

While we are on surf buttons

On the right side of the steering wheel down low I have a switch that has an orange circle in it (guessing a lens) and the words "Deck Lamp".

When I switch it nothing happens.

In the back on the left hand side is a interior light which has a switch and doesn't work either. (Bulb is ok)

Do these relate to each other?

I figure perhaps the dash switch and orange lens are to let you know the rear interior light is going as it it too low to see from the front (due to the removable top).

Can any one help?

yea whats that deck lamp one. my old surf had one to and i neve figured it out...

pete

pretty sure that you need the headlights on, then that decklamp switch works the light in the back, provided that the switch on the light is on also. but the switch in the back definitely needs to be on before the decklamp switch on the dash works

The deck lamp switch is tied to the rear compartment side light... if the switch on the light itself is on, then you can use the deck lamp switch to turn it on and off... think it might also be tied into the rear door...

The hard soft switch is for the shock absorber valving... if you look at the shocks they should have a little round box thingy on top of them with some wires coming out (unless they have been replaced with aftermarket shocks). Generally they are useless after 100,000km or so and people replace them with aftermarket shocks and just ignore the switch.

The ECT POWER switch changes the point at which the auto will change gears (generally it increases by about 500RPM or so). Its just to allow the vehicle to rev out more before changing gear, thus having the revs higher when the new gear kicks in, making it easier to accelerate fast (in theory)

Steve

Ahh - yup it works with the park lights

When park lights are on then either the rear or dash switch both work. (double switched - doesn't matter which way the back one is the front one just works opposite like two light switches in your house) problem is you can't have the rear light on when the lights are off so if you are getting in the back and want some light you have to run round to turn the parks on

fweddy wrote: problem is you can't have the rear light on when the lights are off so if you are getting in the back and want some light you have to run round to turn the parks on

There must be a Japanese engineer somewhere who is still laughing his arse off at getting that system installed in a production vehicle

I have a Nissan Terrano, it also has two switches Criuse/Sport. They don't seem to do anything either.