Sorry for the late update. work got so busy havent had time to work on the truck.. Anyway, I did replace the ETCS. Didn't fix the problem. Was only $24us so that wasn't too bad a price. I'll try cleaning the battery terminals, see if that helps, tho they aren't very dirty. Considering its in the upper 80's and 90's here now, I gotta get this problem figured out. Luckily, I'm off the next few days, so maybe I can track down the culprit!
Thanks for all the help guys!

 

02 montero sport- lights inside vehicle came on, headlights came on but when i turned the key to crank position it would not turn over.got a buzzing sound behind glove box. headlights dimmed when i cranked it ,so i thought it was a starter problem. What it turned out to be was just dirty battery connections.Also the positive wire has a bolt that holds two connections together,take that apart also and sand connections

 

Cleaning the battery post didn't work either. Don't know what this things malfunction is.. learned to plot my trips well so that either i'm in a place for a while so it can cool back down, or I can just leave it running.. Even my local dealership can't get a handle on whats going on

 

dragonfly,

what's the status on your hot start issue? I going thru the same problem now with my 93 montero. i'm already starting to spend money but to no avail. could your new ECTS unit be defective from manufacturer? my buddy suggest spraying cold air like "computer keyboard" cleaner directly on the ECTS unit when you're having the hot start issue. if it starts then the new unit may be defective.