Holley dominator EFI issues

[ss dave]

I have a 69 with an LS7. Initially I used Speartech's wiring and ECU. John was helpful and accessible which was important since the LS7 in a 69 was new territory at the time.
It worked well but on the advice of my tuner he suggessted an upgrade to better fine tune and be more compatible with his Mustang dyno and software.

After months of research and discussions we decided to go with the Holley Dominator system, mainly for the DBW capabilities.

We have had trouble with it since the begining. My builder has spent innummerous minutes on the phone with Tech to decipher wiring situations. Alot of issues that upon speaking with them had not been fully addressed. We actually had to talk with the designer/engineer to clarify problems and solutions.

Now after several days of tuning I find out the ECU is bad and will not self-calibrate as advertised. Had their Bowling Green guy here to check it out.
We need to send it back! WT#! More delays on a system advertised as "plug-n-play".

I will keep you posted but I would PROCEED WITH CAUTION if considering this product.

[ss dave]

After talking with my tuner, he stated that the wiring was correct, but the process of wiring can have a steep learning curve. There can be alot of issues with RF interfence, amp feedback, grounding issues, and individual wiring problems. The first time wiring this system is not for the faint of heart. He suggested that we let Holley do their testing before jumping to conclusions that it is a bad ECU.
I still have issues with the "plug-N-play" advertising. It obviously is anything but that.
I'll wait and see.

[12sec ss]

I dont know your whole setup, but I currently have LS7 with a 4L70E in my '49 Buick with 2007 Corvette DBW pedal and running 2007 GM truck E38 ECU, TB, and T42 TCU with no tuning issues. Wiring harness came from a truck and modified by me, tuned on a Mustang dyno.

[rossmacd]

I dont know your whole setup, but I currently have LS7 with a 4L70E in my '49 Buick with 2007 Corvette DBW pedal and running 2007 GM truck E38 ECU, TB, and T42 TCU with no tuning issues. Wiring harness came from a truck and modified by me, tuned on a Mustang dyno.

That's a bit different from his Holley Dominator system.

I'm curious to see how this ends up. I've been very interested in using a Dominator system on my 4.6 DOHC (once, if ever, they become available. Most people seem to be having great results.

[The WidowMaker]

i was thinking about the holley hp setup, so im interested as well

[ss dave]

Update
The ECU was apparently bad and Holley had to repair it. More lost time unfortunately.
Car back to tuner but still having issues. Ill talk with him tomorrow to get more details.
Alot of issues with a Plug-n-play system.

[ty1295]

Interesting as I am finishing up the Holley Dominator system install myself, truck is running and any issues has not been related to system but me so far. I am impressed at this point.

[ss dave]

Just talked with the tuner. Still having issues with the O2 sensors and Holley engineers are looking at it as a software problem now.
Unfortunately they are difficult to talk with and advice and info is being sent via E-mail. This is frustrating and costly. My tuner isn't cheap but he is good. At this point I would definitely say that getting this system has been a BIG mistake.

[TheJDMan]

Just talked with the tuner. Still having issues with the O2 sensors and Holley engineers are looking at it as a software problem now.
Unfortunately they are difficult to talk with and advice and info is being sent via E-mail. This is frustrating and costly. My tuner isn't cheap but he is good. At this point I would definitely say that getting this system has been a BIG mistake.

Didn't you say you upgraded to this system on your tuners advice? Seems to me that any time spent on this should be on him and he needs to be paid for his time by Holley.

[sccacuda]

Didn't you say you upgraded to this system on your tuners advice? Seems to me that any time spent on this should be on him and he needs to be paid for his time by Holley.

I've been an OE tech for 20 years. This is one of those areas that really frustrate me. You wouldn't expect to take your car to the dealership and have to pay for the tech to "learn" how to work on your car. He should know. Same thing with an aftermarket EFI. If your not very good with electrical, the learning curve can be steep, if not insurmountable. This is something that is new, not unlike a new car I have to learn. I don't charge anyone for this knowledge, because it makes me a better tech. Once I have the knowledge, I can fix things quickly and easily because I understand it. Your tuner should be the same way. He will learn from all the mistakes he made to get this going, but in the end, he will be the go to guy for Holley EFI. He has to invest a little time now so he can reap the rewards later.

[dj3]

Did your tuner buy the Holley LS wiring harness to go with the computer or try to modify the existing? Holley also specifys what O2 sensors that are compatible with the system. http://www.holley.com/HolleyEFICatalog/ starts on page 14 step by step of what you have to buy.

[ss dave]

All of the wiring is Holley, we even had their rep come out to my builder and go over the wiring with my electrical /wiring guy.
He agreed it was done correctly. Now we are again dealing with the engineers at Holley, TB is his initials. Unfortunately it seems that this system is still in development stage and I'm addressing the issues as we go. I hate being the beta tester. It was suppossed to be easier.
My tuner is a Holley distributer and has done other set-ups but not this one. He is knowledgeable and good. He has tuned this car several times.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/01/P1010327-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/09/P10102281-1.jpg

[sccacuda]

pm sent

[ss dave]

My tuner talked with Holley yesterday. Apparently they have one person who dechipers and repairs software problems. He was working on another person's issues yesterday and I'm next in line. Today he will tackle my problem.
Then I'll get my "three best guys on it". Frustratingly slow.

[INTMD8]

The stock ECU is going to have more parameters and resolution than anything aftermarket. Not sure why it couldn't have been fine tuned with that.

What couldn't it do that you thought the Holley would?

[ss dave]

The "stock" ecu was from a 98 Blazer. My tuner's software was not 100% compatible and he had to "cheat" on some of the parameters.
We both thought that this would be an upgrade, faster and more capabilities.

[Bmf5150]

I have the Holley dominator efi on my 68 camaro with ls1,been running great!i have cam and ported heads do I had to adjust some idle areas ,but honestly pretty much plug a play!!

[Steve Chryssos]

Hang in there. I'm running Holley's HP system and have had nothing but a positive experience with the hardware, software and tech support. There has been learning curve, but learn I did. And despite my utter skepticism, the self-learn feature has worked as advertised. The Dominator system is geared more towards custom builds, so it's not supposed to jump out of the box and install itself. Dominator = More configurable = more challenging.

Feel free to give me a call if you need some outside, 3rd party perspective (or just an outlet for venting) It's a stunning car, so it's worth the wait!
/Steevo

[ss dave]

Thanks
Chris at Wichita Dyno spent numerous hours working, tweaking and testing the system. The software had to be reworked by the software guru at Holley. Had to replace the O2 sensors, Holley supplied us with two new sensors. Then Chris did his magic and got the thing to work. Initial test run was super! The car ran like an LME LS7 should, quick response to the throttle, loads of power to the pavement.
Best of all the Bowler tranny responded like it was built to respond. The self learn feature works well according to Chris, fast and effcient, as Steve mentioned. Should get a good feel for it this weekend when I get the car for some serious play-time.

[The WidowMaker]

was it an issue with the unit or your inital tuner? what did chris know that the original guy didnt?

[Steve Chryssos]

That's great news. Enjoy!

[ss dave]

I'm posting here to see if you guys that are using this system are using Autometer gauges. If not what are you using? Any problems?
Thanks

[dj3]

I'm using auto meter and the tach is the only one that goes through the computer and it works fine. I added a Holley gauge for an afr reading. Works good

[ss dave]

My gauges are the Sport Comp II and if we could run the speedo any other way I would. We tried thru the speed sensor directly but same result. I even thought we could try a manual gauge but with the tranny I have its not possible.
Autometer is trying to help, Holley won't even return Emails.
It was mentioned to me by another member to contact Doug Flynn at Holley for help. Can't get a reply.
Any ideas to get a speedo in this car would be helpful.
Thanks
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/01/P1010307-1.jpg

[ss dave]

Update
Tried to contact Holley engineer but ran into interference. Operator would only let him talk to us when they decided it would be OK for him to talk with us. No luck.
Looked at the port in which the speedo connects with the ECU. It should have a clean signal for the speedo to operate effectively, however there is alot of static and background signals coming from that port. I still believe the ECU is the culprit. Holley won't commit to this however, therefore we will hook the speeedo up using the driveshaft or Autometer has a GPS interface (won't work underbridges etc.)
Maybe in the future Holley will figure it out but I want to drive!