Apparently some of the injector issues are the connectors.
Nicole wants me to put a carb on it.
Nicole wants me to put a carb on it.
CK5
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'89 R3500 Crew Cab 2wd to 4wd conversion & beyond
- Thread starter mrk5
- Start date
Started out with 2wd TBI350 with SM465 to current 4wd with 454, 700r4, NP241
FIFYApparently some of the injector issues are the connectors.
Everyone wants me to put an LS in it.
I also read the connector issue thing and did all the things they recommend to get them to work again with no luck. I ended up having to ship it back to have it fixed.
Honestly IMO the Sniper is garbage and really makes Holley look bad with how much they push it. Their other stuff is way better and more reliable.
Did some investigating. Looks like I have a dead injector.
Not sure how well you can see. It's the top left hole that's dry.
I was datalogging today and noticed it goes way lean when accelerating which makes sense with a dead injector.
that sucks.
I was just about to say, it seems like I've heard nothing but issues from a bunch of different people on the Holly Sniper EFI system. Kinda crazy to me. My brother has the cheap Summit Racing Max-500 EFI kit on two different rigs (same kit I just put on my green crew cab), one of which is on the road a lot and one that is off-road only, both of which have multiple years on them now and have run flawlessly the whole time (I do get the kit we got leaves some on the table as it doesn't have computer controlled timing ability, but still). It just seems crazy that paying that much more for the Sniper kit and you guys have nothing but problems with it
On my old Blazer I ran the Holley Commander 950. It was very basic compared to the sniper (no real self learning) but that thing was rock solid the whole time I used it, except for the IACV which used the same Dodge V-10 POS that the Sniper uses, go figure.
The biggest downfall of the Sniper is what they did to make it look "cool". They hid the injectors in the float bowls which forced them to use tiny little injectors, it also forced them to not allow the injectors to spray directly into the air stream. Instead there's a tiny passage with a bunch of holes radially above each throttle plate, the injectors squirt into this passage and the fuel "drools" into the throttle body above the throttle plates.
Since these holes have to be big enough to pass max fuel (you can jam 4 more injectors in there somehow) they barely drool at idle, so Holly pre-fills the passage by pulsing the injector every time you key on so it pre-fills the passage. This is fine if it starts on the first try, but it's easy to flood it if you're having problems getting it to start. They also don't idle very well due to the inefficient atomization of the fuel at low load.
I could go on all day trash talking the Sniper, but honestly I bought a different Holley computer to run the LS I'll be putting in to the shop truck, so I'm not completely done with them yet.
Anyone want to buy a used Sniper setup with a goodwrench 350?
The biggest downfall of the Sniper is what they did to make it look "cool". They hid the injectors in the float bowls which forced them to use tiny little injectors, it also forced them to not allow the injectors to spray directly into the air stream. Instead there's a tiny passage with a bunch of holes radially above each throttle plate, the injectors squirt into this passage and the fuel "drools" into the throttle body above the throttle plates.
Since these holes have to be big enough to pass max fuel (you can jam 4 more injectors in there somehow) they barely drool at idle, so Holly pre-fills the passage by pulsing the injector every time you key on so it pre-fills the passage. This is fine if it starts on the first try, but it's easy to flood it if you're having problems getting it to start. They also don't idle very well due to the inefficient atomization of the fuel at low load.
I could go on all day trash talking the Sniper, but honestly I bought a different Holley computer to run the LS I'll be putting in to the shop truck, so I'm not completely done with them yet.
Anyone want to buy a used Sniper setup with a goodwrench 350?
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I did get 7100 miles on it since I had the ECU failure over 2 years ago. I think it's good chance it might be the connector since it comes and goes. Just earlier this afternoon I drove it to the car wash. It was running like poo. Driving back from the car wash it ran great until I was about half way back to the shop, then it was poo again. That's when I found the dead injector.
I wouldn't mind switching to a Terminator Stealth but I'm not going to have money for that for a little while. Gotta recover from the money spent on big tires and efi on the C10.
I wouldn't mind switching to a Terminator Stealth but I'm not going to have money for that for a little while. Gotta recover from the money spent on big tires and efi on the C10.
I find that Summit kit intriguing with the ECU being separate from the throttle body. One negative I see is that it doesn't do timing control.
The fuel injector harness connectors were the problem. As soon as I started it up, I knew what had fixed it. It's has always idled very smoothly for me.
Have to remove 2 allen head screws on the side. 5/32" allen wrench.
Then the side cover pulls off the injectors.
Hear you can see the connector for the rear (left in the picture) injector is not quite fully seated.
The little rubber skirting is torn so that's probably part of the issue.
Some other places people have mentioned using zipties. I didn't see a good way to use one and on top of that I noticed my zip ties are rated up to 180°F so they wouldn't quite be good. I used what we in the sign industry call neon tie wire. In reality it's just some 6" strands of battery cable we use for tying neon tubes to the supports. I figured this was a good option for the heat. I didn't twist it super tight, just snug.
Luckily it was just a 45 minute fix.
I don't think I ever posted a pic of the colder air intake I put on this truck after taking it off the C10. I'm going to add some more pipe to get it over closer to the core support, but just haven't taken the time yet. I figure this is still an improvement as far as getting some cooler air coming into the engine.
Have to remove 2 allen head screws on the side. 5/32" allen wrench.
Then the side cover pulls off the injectors.
Hear you can see the connector for the rear (left in the picture) injector is not quite fully seated.
The little rubber skirting is torn so that's probably part of the issue.
Some other places people have mentioned using zipties. I didn't see a good way to use one and on top of that I noticed my zip ties are rated up to 180°F so they wouldn't quite be good. I used what we in the sign industry call neon tie wire. In reality it's just some 6" strands of battery cable we use for tying neon tubes to the supports. I figured this was a good option for the heat. I didn't twist it super tight, just snug.
Luckily it was just a 45 minute fix.
I don't think I ever posted a pic of the colder air intake I put on this truck after taking it off the C10. I'm going to add some more pipe to get it over closer to the core support, but just haven't taken the time yet. I figure this is still an improvement as far as getting some cooler air coming into the engine.
Before I shipped mine back to Holley, I did the zip tie trick. It didn't fix anything for me unfortunately.
Can you pull numbers off the injectors to buy a spare or two?
I tried but couldn't find a source. I even asked Holley if I could just buy some. They said it's not always the injector, sometimes it's the driver which is harder to swap out.
I haven't necessarily had the best experience with this system, but it seems like I've had a little better luck that a lot of other people. I'm just glad it was something I could fix myself. I guess it goes back to the old "you get what you pay for" adage with the Sniper being the bottom price system.
Apparently that's not a straight forward thing. Some people have found similar injectors, but not exactly the same. It looks like you can get replacements that fit but the flow rating is different. However, you can change the injector info so the system can work with different injectors. This is a good discussion about it here: https://forums.holley.com/showthread.php?46796-Has-anyone-replaced-the-Sniper-injectors-themselves.
I debated about tying down the other injector plug but I didn't. I have this mindset where sometimes I hate to mess with something that's working. Now that I know what needs done, I can take care of it when needed. If I have another connection issue, I will probably just tie them all down regardless. There's a guy in the Holley forums that's making plastic clips with a 3D printer to help lock the connector down so I may buy some of those and keep them in the truck in case I need them in the future. https://forums.holley.com/showthread.php?50157-3D-printed-injector-retainer-clip&highlight=printed
It occurred to me this morning that my trouble with the injector started on a trail run back in August. We were climbing a long hill on the trail and the truck started running oddly. At the time I kinda thought it sounded like the exhaust fell off. I don't remember noticing the loss of power, but I was also in double low and not going fast. It only lasted for a couple of minutes then cleared up. I remember being baffled at the time what it was, but now I'm sure it was the first time the injector cut out on me. The way the motor sounded under acceleration coming home Saturday sounded a lot like it did that day on the trail.
Kudos to you for digging in and finding the problem and fixing it.
We thought we had contactor problems with the winch on our '99 K2500 on the UA trip last fall but it turns out the motor itself was all corroded up and basically seized. Might be a place to look before you get too far with it.
Good idea. I've had this winch 12 years and I've only ever been thru the gear side, never the motor side.
Had to refresh my memory on how the cable connections to the winch motor work, but it is indeed the winch motor that isn't working.
I'm official; received my plates in the mail Friday.
Back to the winch. After the last time I tested the winch, I wasn't sure I had done it right. I took a more careful approach and I was able to confirm the motor is fine and the contactor had failed.
I came across an item Warn sells called an upgrade kit. I think it might be discontinued tho because there weren't many places that still had one availabe. It includes an Albright contactor in a housing, battery cables, and a better tie bar setup; the only thing not included is the ground cable. My Tabor winch (Tabor used to be the name Warn sold their entry level winch under) is listed as one of the applications for this kit.
One thing I've never liked on most winches is the dumb tie bars that I've had blow out a couple of times. When they blow out it ruins the drum support. I really like how this new design makes it all one big piece. I'm sure you could still bust it out of the drum support, but it should be harder. I also like how this one is arched up to make a little more space.
I have been wanting to clean up and streamline the wiring in the engine bay. I decided to keep the contactor on the bumper because it means I just have 2 cables running into the engine bay instead of 5. The problem is I made the bumper to keep the winch tucked in and there's not room to mount the control box on the tie bar assembly.
I had to get creative on where to mount the control box. I made a bracket and was able to put it behind one of the grill guard uprights.
I have a functioning winch again and I can remove some wiring in the engine bay.
I came across an item Warn sells called an upgrade kit. I think it might be discontinued tho because there weren't many places that still had one availabe. It includes an Albright contactor in a housing, battery cables, and a better tie bar setup; the only thing not included is the ground cable. My Tabor winch (Tabor used to be the name Warn sold their entry level winch under) is listed as one of the applications for this kit.
One thing I've never liked on most winches is the dumb tie bars that I've had blow out a couple of times. When they blow out it ruins the drum support. I really like how this new design makes it all one big piece. I'm sure you could still bust it out of the drum support, but it should be harder. I also like how this one is arched up to make a little more space.
I have been wanting to clean up and streamline the wiring in the engine bay. I decided to keep the contactor on the bumper because it means I just have 2 cables running into the engine bay instead of 5. The problem is I made the bumper to keep the winch tucked in and there's not room to mount the control box on the tie bar assembly.
I had to get creative on where to mount the control box. I made a bracket and was able to put it behind one of the grill guard uprights.
I have a functioning winch again and I can remove some wiring in the engine bay.
Big upgrades. $90 Amazon LED headlights:
New, larger cup holder courtesy of @Desert_K5
It replaced the cup holders than came with the console. I needed larger holes.
New, larger cup holder courtesy of @Desert_K5
It replaced the cup holders than came with the console. I needed larger holes.
