Sports mode for non-Kakadu models

[Brisbane4101 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Brisbane4101]

So update on this, switch arrived all installed in my GXL. Working as it should. Will put something together soon.

hi Toopy, in an earlier post, you mentioned you had pulled your dash and identified some wires not connected for the GXL. Did you have to do any additional wiring to get the switch to work, or was it a direct 'plug and play'.

[Toopy Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toopy]

Yes, 3 wires are required to be run between the Shift position indicator connector and both the Transmission ecm (2 wires) and the Aircon amplifier (1 wire) ecu.
then 3 wires are required to be piggybacked and spliced at the SPI connector.

It wasn’t difficult to do. I will try to put together a walkthrough later.

[Toopy Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toopy]

My dealer quoted $270 for the Switch 84711-60030 with a 2-6 week delivery timeframe.

Yeah, don't buy from the dealer, in fact I try to buy nothing from them.
Learnt a while ago about the Toyota Aus price premium, they wanted $600 for a new fuel pump for a mates fj, cost $300 from amayama.

[Toopy Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toopy]

Ok, So try to bear with me on this. This is applicable to the 18 to AUG21 Model
(See posts by Farside91 below, there seems to have been a wiring adjustment on the 21on (150kw) Prado)

Adding the ECO/Sport to GXL

BOM
1x ECO/Sport Mode switch (amayama or equal)
1x Strip of 10 82998-12870 Pins (0.64 Type III Female) https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005003341002653.html
1x Strip of 10 82998-24350 Pins (1.5 Type II Female) https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005003340479965.html
1x Strip of 10 82998-24290 Pins (0.64 Type II Female) https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005003340350570.html
~3m of 3core or more wire (I used trailer wire which was a little thick, I would suggest stranded cat5 (I only had solid core, do not use a solid core wire)
If I was doing it again I would use stranded cat5/6

If you do not own crimpers capable of crimping very small pins then you can either buy a set here https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003463564965.html or if you are handy with some needle nose it is possible to fold the tags over but you need a steady hand and must not warp the terminal as it won't fit in the connector housing.


So first thing is strip down the dash to this stage.


If your not comfortable doing this, then I would suggest stopping here as this will not be for you.

in the image above I have marked out the Transmission/Engine control ECU and the AC amplifier, we need to run 3 connections from these ECU's to the G303 connector here


It's easier if your remove the AC vent pipe (red), there is a visible bolt on the lower left side then 2 plastic clips that hold it on (marked in green)
It was easier if you disconnect the clip at the rear first, after you have removed the bolt.


Run the cabling following the existing cable looms, securing along the length, to the ECU's.
If you used a common sheath cable you will need to separate a conductor out, I split mine here and then run the conductor down the existing loom to the AC AMP.

[Toopy Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toopy]

The rest of the cable went up across the dash cross member and down the left hand side cable loom





The connection Diagram is as follows (doesn't seem to matter what I do the forums nuke the res on this image link here, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pkC...ew?usp=sharing)

[Toopy Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toopy]

All 3 connectors in the ECU side use the 82998-12870 Pins

Toyota use double latching system connectors, there is a lock in tab that need to be released before you can fully insert the connector pin, after it has been released then push the terminated connector pin in until you hear and feel it click. Once all connectors have been inserted you can close the latch.

The special tool is simply something close to a small flat blade jewelers screwdriver or equivalent.


Terminate 2 conductors in the correct positions of G184 (12 & 8) They are vacant on the GXL so it's rather obvious which ones they are.


And 1 Conductor to the correct socket on the AC amplifier



You can verify the colours of the wire next to the correct/vacant pins by cross referencing these tables

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11Xi...ew?usp=sharing (ECM pins)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ODY...ew?usp=sharing (AC AMP)



Once that is done on the other end of the cable terminate the 3 circuits into G303 following the diagram. Note that pin 13 is 1.5mm and pins 14 & 15 are 0.64 all are Type II (so different to the ones we previously used.




Then terminate 3 short pieces of wire in pins 1, 6 and 18 with 1.5mm Type II connectors, These need to be spliced to pins 7, 12 & 16 of G303(see table below)

These are for dash illumination and an earth for the ECO switch.
I used corresponding colour wires and splice connectors, I had planned to remove the pins and terminate a loop however as I used too large a gauge wire, 2 would not fit in the connector.
'm not a fan of these type of splice connectors and if they fail will sort something out then.

Here is a connection straight-line I created which may also help. Everything green is pre-wired.
Note, we have discovered a change in the wiring from the 21on (150w) model. Blue = MY18-21 Purple = 08/21-on
Please adjust your wiring according to your year model.

G184 (ECM)	G24 (AC)		G303 Pin Size	G303 Pins	Wire Colour		ECO/Sport Connector Pins	Function
		Piggy back to Pin 7	1.5mm Type II	1	Red/white stripe	->	Pin 1	Dash illumination +
				2	N/C
				3	Black	(SPI)
				4	Green	(SPI)
				5	Blue	(SPI)
		Piggy back to Pin 12	1.5mm Type II	6	Black/Yellow stripe	->	Pin 10	Dash illumination -
				7	Green	(SPI)		Dash illumination +
				8	Green/White stripe	->	Pin 2	Suspension Control (Not used)
				9	Pink/ Black stripe	->	Pin 8	Suspension Control (Not used)
				10	Purple	(SPI)
				11	N/C
				12	White/Black strip	(SPI)		Dash illumination -
Pin 8/Pin 9 0.64mm Type III Female	---------------------->	-------------------->	1.5mm Type II Female	13	Light Green/Black stripe	->	Pin 7	Normal
	Pin 18 0.64mm Type III Female	-------------------->	0.64mm Type II Female	14	Yellow/White stripe	->	Pin 6	ECO
Pin 12 0.64mm Type III Female	---------------------->	-------------------->	0.64mm Type II Female	15	Blue/White Stripe	->	Pin 3	Sport
				16	White/Black stripe	(SPI)		Earth/GND
				17	Red	(SPI)
		Piggy back to Pin 16	1.5mm Type II Female	18	White/Black strip		Pin 5	Earth/GND

Once done, tidy up trimming off zip ties etc.. reassemble.
Plug in and replace the blanking panel with your drive select switch and test your drive modes.

[humungusmon Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close humungusmon]

Well, Toopy, no one else has jumped in yet to say what a great job! Thank you!

It is a lot of effort to upload such a detailed guide.

Thanks for your work. Your advice on what and where to source the pins will help me down the track when I pick up my new VX and add transmission lock up kit.

Thats what this forum is all about. Thanks.

[ptommo59 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ptommo59]

Hi Humungusmon,

Yes Toopy has done a fantastic job with working through and documenting this mod for the GXL. Lucky for you the VX is plug and play if you want to add this.

I would recommend holding off on sourcing the lockup kit until you have tried the 150kw engine and new gearbox mapping as it prioritises lock up in 3rd to 6th gear even when under acceleration so totally different to previous generations.

My 21 VX will happily tow a 2600kg caravan in drive mode and lock up all the way to 6th when on the flat with no headwind and will drop to 5th or 4th locked as needed so no need to use S mode unless you specifically like driving in S.

I did fit a Wholesale Auto trans cooler as even with light towing the pan temps were in the mid to high 90s but now run in the 70-80s unless doing lots of hill work.

[humungusmon Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close humungusmon]

H ptommo59 Thanks for the advice. That will save quite a few bucks. Cheers.

[Andyfive Member Find all posts View Profile Close Andyfive]

I bought the (84711-60030) Switch, Eco Mode from Amayama (www.amayama.com) on 8 August for $83.11 inc Auspost Delivery. It arrived 6 September and was packaged well.

Amayama had great communications and I would purchase through them again.

I fit the new switch to my 2023 VX Prado and it was a simple install, remove panel, plug new switch in and insert into dash.

I then turned vehicle on and tested switch. Dash indicated Eco, Normal and Sports when pressed.

[ptommo59 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ptommo59]

Good to see prices and delivery times for the ECO Mode switch are getting better :-)

[Farside91 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Farside91]

Hi Toopy

I have a 2021 GXL and followed your excellent walk through. The issue I have is that when I select eco mode I can't get it back to normal mode. I can toggle between sport and eco with no issues, but I cant go back to normal mode without disconnecting the battery. I have checked the wiring and cant find any issues and I have checked the continuity between each of the ECU's and G303 connector without any issues. I noticed on the photo you have of G303 that you don't have a link between pins 16 and 18. Is that missing from the photo or could that be contributing to the issue I am having?



Thanks

[ptommo59 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ptommo59]

Hi Farside91,

I am sure Toopy will give you great advice, in the interim if you are getting ECO and Sport activating normally its not an earth/gnd issue which is what 16 and 18 are doing for all three modes.

I would check with a multimeter that your Normal switch is shorting pin 5 and 7 together and if yes trace your Mode switch connector pin 7 connection through the G303 connector back to the ECM G184 Pin 8 as it must not be grounding at that point to not switch out of ECO or Sport modes when the Normal button is pressed.

You shouldn't need to disconnect the battery just switch to Sport mode and it will revert to Normal when you switch the ignition off (unless there is a switch/wiring issue force selecting another mode).

[Toopy Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toopy]

Hi Toopy

I have a 2021 GXL and followed your excellent walk through. The issue I have is that when I select eco mode I can't get it back to normal mode. I can toggle between sport and eco with no issues, but I cant go back to normal mode without disconnecting the battery. I have checked the wiring and cant find any issues and I have checked the continuity between each of the ECU's and G303 connector without any issues. I noticed on the photo you have of G303 that you don't have a link between pins 16 and 18. Is that missing from the photo or could that be contributing to the issue I am having?



Thanks

Hi mate, sorry I haven't checked the forum for a while.

Yes that photo is missing the loop that is required where you have shown. I just took pictures as I installed it and realized later the only photo I had wasn't complete.

As ptommo59 has said you need to check your circuit with a meter. my guess would be it open circuit at the ecm end. Check the pin (8) at G184 is fully seated, take G184 out and check that the pin on the ecm hasn't been bent.

Your ground at G303 is obviously working if you can select sport/eco.

[randog78 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close randog78]

Stumbled across a post on FB about throttle controllers and someone told the OP to check out this thread on PradoPoint. And would you look at that, 3 years after I asked the question there's an abundance of useful answers! I ended up with the EVC iDrive, but would have tried the OEM path if I'd known.

Nice work!