Holley Dominator / Terminator Experience?
Thread Starter
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 644
Likes: 575
From: Carnation, WA
Holley Dominator / Terminator Experience? I asked a well respected member of this board if they had any experience with the Holley Dominator ECU. I was told that a friend of his, another well respected member, was not particularly happy with the Dominator system.
Tried to PM the second member, but for some reason he doesn't accept PMs.
I'm hoping he realizes that I'm talking about him here, and sends me a PM. :-)
Tried to PM the second member, but for some reason he doesn't accept PMs.
I'm hoping he realizes that I'm talking about him here, and sends me a PM. :-)
Launching!
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 295
Likes: 102
From: Duluth, Minnesota
I have installed multiple Terminator and HP's. limited with Dominators.
I am a big fan of them and the capabilities they offer.
Pretty simple to install and set up.
The guy who does my tuning does is 95% Holley.
I would be interested to hear what they dislike, as they are my first recommendation.
I am a big fan of them and the capabilities they offer.
Pretty simple to install and set up.
The guy who does my tuning does is 95% Holley.
I would be interested to hear what they dislike, as they are my first recommendation.
Thread Starter
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 644
Likes: 575
From: Carnation, WA
I will wait a couple of days to see if they respond to this. Essentially, the complaints that I heard of were related to less flexibility in tuning than I'd expect for a performance oriented, aftermarket ECU. But I'd like to hear from the guy in question himself, what his issues were, and whether he'd recommend one now.
I have no idea who you are talking about but I can give you a couple of my gripes after using them for many many years now...
- Low voltage in the system can wipe the tune out of it or worse, brick it.
- No real defined safeties or warnings outside of creating your own work arounds
- Can't change the number of rows/columns in tables
- Datalog viewer kind of sucks compared to others on the market
- Transferring datalogs takes forever
- No sensor diagnostics/failure detection
- No definable exhaust mass flow transit time for accurate O2 corrections
- Knock detection is terrible and not really accurate without individual cylinder gain and multiple frequency settings
- No real airmass model so transient fueling events are just based on a percentage and rate of change
- No real antilag
- No real Flex Fuel, yes everybody uses advanced tables to scale up fueling and adding timing for E85 but it's missing everything else
- Their phone tech support is horrendous
- No CAN integration outside of themselves
Don't get me wrong, they work and can work very well in many scenarios but those are my complaints.
- Low voltage in the system can wipe the tune out of it or worse, brick it.
- No real defined safeties or warnings outside of creating your own work arounds
- Can't change the number of rows/columns in tables
- Datalog viewer kind of sucks compared to others on the market
- Transferring datalogs takes forever
- No sensor diagnostics/failure detection
- No definable exhaust mass flow transit time for accurate O2 corrections
- Knock detection is terrible and not really accurate without individual cylinder gain and multiple frequency settings
- No real airmass model so transient fueling events are just based on a percentage and rate of change
- No real antilag
- No real Flex Fuel, yes everybody uses advanced tables to scale up fueling and adding timing for E85 but it's missing everything else
- Their phone tech support is horrendous
- No CAN integration outside of themselves
Don't get me wrong, they work and can work very well in many scenarios but those are my complaints.
Thread Starter
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 644
Likes: 575
From: Carnation, WA
I have no idea who you are talking about but I can give you a couple of my gripes after using them for many many years now...
- Low voltage in the system can wipe the tune out of it or worse, brick it.
- No real defined safeties or warnings outside of creating your own work arounds
- Can't change the number of rows/columns in tables
- Datalog viewer kind of sucks compared to others on the market
- Transferring datalogs takes forever
- No sensor diagnostics/failure detection
- No definable exhaust mass flow transit time for accurate O2 corrections
- Knock detection is terrible and not really accurate without individual cylinder gain and multiple frequency settings
- No real airmass model so transient fueling events are just based on a percentage and rate of change
- No real antilag
- No real Flex Fuel, yes everybody uses advanced tables to scale up fueling and adding timing for E85 but it's missing everything else
- Their phone tech support is horrendous
- No CAN integration outside of themselves
Don't get me wrong, they work and can work very well in many scenarios but those are my complaints.
- Low voltage in the system can wipe the tune out of it or worse, brick it.
- No real defined safeties or warnings outside of creating your own work arounds
- Can't change the number of rows/columns in tables
- Datalog viewer kind of sucks compared to others on the market
- Transferring datalogs takes forever
- No sensor diagnostics/failure detection
- No definable exhaust mass flow transit time for accurate O2 corrections
- Knock detection is terrible and not really accurate without individual cylinder gain and multiple frequency settings
- No real airmass model so transient fueling events are just based on a percentage and rate of change
- No real antilag
- No real Flex Fuel, yes everybody uses advanced tables to scale up fueling and adding timing for E85 but it's missing everything else
- Their phone tech support is horrendous
- No CAN integration outside of themselves
Don't get me wrong, they work and can work very well in many scenarios but those are my complaints.
We can do a lot with holleys CAN but it took a while to figure it out and its not something a normal customer would just do. Now we can do almost whatever we want but it wasnt easy getting there. Just havent figured a good way to market it, sell it to make money and where someone just doesnt copy our work.
Interesting.
I purchased a slightly used Dominator system from a good friend. ECU, NTK O2, and the 6.86 Pro Dash. Along with custom harnesses for a Mercedes V8. I’ll have to completely rework these for my LS.
I’ve been running a Gen 3 0411 ECU in my turbo Nova since day 1. It works fine. I’ve always tuned it myself.
So a little disconcerning to read this list of flaws.
I’m in this for $2k, and will proceed.
But I’d be curious what you two folks would recommend to someone who is choosing an aftermarket EFI system?
The new HPT Core ECU just came out a couple of weeks ago. Looks interesting, but I had already purchased the Holley.
Ron
I purchased a slightly used Dominator system from a good friend. ECU, NTK O2, and the 6.86 Pro Dash. Along with custom harnesses for a Mercedes V8. I’ll have to completely rework these for my LS.
I’ve been running a Gen 3 0411 ECU in my turbo Nova since day 1. It works fine. I’ve always tuned it myself.
So a little disconcerning to read this list of flaws.
I’m in this for $2k, and will proceed.
But I’d be curious what you two folks would recommend to someone who is choosing an aftermarket EFI system?
The new HPT Core ECU just came out a couple of weeks ago. Looks interesting, but I had already purchased the Holley.
Ron
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With all of the other options out there I wouldn't even consider it for a couple of years until most of the bugs get worked out. I have already downloaded the software and started playing with it and it's missing quite a few things, but it's brand new and I'm sure they will add stuff over time.
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I purchased a slightly used Dominator system from a good friend. ECU, NTK O2, and the 6.86 Pro Dash. Along with custom harnesses for a Mercedes V8. I’ll have to completely rework these for my LS.
I’ve been running a Gen 3 0411 ECU in my turbo Nova since day 1. It works fine. I’ve always tuned it myself.
So a little disconcerning to read this list of flaws.
I’m in this for $2k, and will proceed.
But I’d be curious what you two folks would recommend to someone who is choosing an aftermarket EFI system?
The new HPT Core ECU just came out a couple of weeks ago. Looks interesting, but I had already purchased the Holley.
Ron
I purchased a slightly used Dominator system from a good friend. ECU, NTK O2, and the 6.86 Pro Dash. Along with custom harnesses for a Mercedes V8. I’ll have to completely rework these for my LS.
I’ve been running a Gen 3 0411 ECU in my turbo Nova since day 1. It works fine. I’ve always tuned it myself.
So a little disconcerning to read this list of flaws.
I’m in this for $2k, and will proceed.
But I’d be curious what you two folks would recommend to someone who is choosing an aftermarket EFI system?
The new HPT Core ECU just came out a couple of weeks ago. Looks interesting, but I had already purchased the Holley.
Ron
I was recently offered a great deal on Haltech, but the challenge is that neither my customers nor anyone I know uses it. Even if it’s an excellent product, the lack of a local user base or a reliable network for support makes switching from Holley difficult. With Holley, I have direct contacts within the company and a broad network of tuners I can reach out to for advice, which gives me confidence in sticking with what I know.
I was recently offered a great deal on Haltech, but the challenge is that neither my customers nor anyone I know uses it. Even if it’s an excellent product, the lack of a local user base or a reliable network for support makes switching from Holley difficult. With Holley, I have direct contacts within the company and a broad network of tuners I can reach out to for advice, which gives me confidence in sticking with what I know.
Thanks Nic and minytrker.
My guess is those fancy systems would be way overkill for my drive to the track toy. Prob over my pay scale as well.
Great info for serious hardcore racers though.
My car is 0.018 seconds away from my goal of 8.50. I think a few more passes and I'd get there.
I bought the Holley because it was available for a good price. And I know the seller very well. Got a money back guarantee too. :-)
And I'm up for a challenge.
I have tuned one car with a Dominator, and I help other buddies at the track. But I haven't installed one from scratch with a base tune yet.
So it will be a good challenge for me.
I'm looking forward to much better boost control, as well as a much better data logger.
Ron
My guess is those fancy systems would be way overkill for my drive to the track toy. Prob over my pay scale as well.
Great info for serious hardcore racers though.
My car is 0.018 seconds away from my goal of 8.50. I think a few more passes and I'd get there.
I bought the Holley because it was available for a good price. And I know the seller very well. Got a money back guarantee too. :-)
And I'm up for a challenge.
I have tuned one car with a Dominator, and I help other buddies at the track. But I haven't installed one from scratch with a base tune yet.
So it will be a good challenge for me.
I'm looking forward to much better boost control, as well as a much better data logger.
Ron
Haltech has phone numbers you can call for real support both in the US and Australia which makes for a big time window. The few times that we've called we talked to somebody immediately that was completely knowledgeable and wasnt just reading the documentation. This is in sharp contrast to calling the Holley tech support line where you sit on hold and then talk to somebody reading from a flowchart. I know you said you had inside contacts which is nice, but most people don't have that with holley. If you ever get the chance just install one haltech system and give it a shot, you won't be sorry.
It's great to know more about Haltech. When they contacted me, they seemed impressive, but since they were also promoting their product, I didn't want to make a decision based on a single call. My hesitation isn't just because I don't know many people using it—switching would mean starting from scratch. I've been tuning with Holley since its release, and I've built a vast library of tunes and data logs over the years. The custom traction control setups, multiple tunes for different cars, and all that accumulated data represent a significant investment of time and effort. I almost switched to FuelTech years ago but decided against it for similar reasons. I do have a customer interested in trying Haltech, but I’m hesitant to learn on their vehicle. I might just need to get something myself to test it out.