is this system smart enough to retard timing, throttle, or fuel if it thinks there is a large enough discrepancy? Such as it's so far out of range it puts it in some kind of limp mode?
Doug
No, definitely not.
You have the ability to tailor individual timing table cells to whatever end you want but ostensibly you'd need enough data to make those choices as it's not an automatic feature. The nice thing is you don't have to adjust the entire curve, it's only the cells you want to affect. The inputs for the Sniper ECU are the TPS, MAP sensor, CTS and 02. That's why the F.A.S.T. guys can use Holley ECUs because even though there is an interaction between the two systems the timing is controlled separately from the fuel. Sniper will even work with non-digital timing devices but then the timing control feature is lost. To me it doesn't make much sense to run the system that way but some guys do it.
There is no limp mode per se. However, if the tune is pretty well locked in to where the ECU is only making minimal adjustments you can turn off the learn feature so the ECU can't adjust it anymore and save it as a "good tune". If you had an issue where the car wouldn't run right, like say an O2 goes bad real far from home etc. you load the saved good tune with the learn off and drive it like that until you can fix the 02. I had a locked-in tune and drove around with learn off for a while just to see what would happen - nothing happened, it just didn't learn. At some point during this time without me realizing, the 02 took a dump. It just stopped switching, I checked it. Moral of the story, it was actually lucky I was driving around with the learn off because had it been relying on the bad 02 it would have been a problem.
There are other more sophisticated ECUs like the Dominator that allow for more inputs like oil and fuel pressure, knock sensors, stuff for boost, etc. You have to program the sensors to "do something" though, it's not an automatic feature like it would be in OBD2. The Sniper does not have that capability though, it's more of a basic system. That's not to say it wouldn't work for drag racing, the other ECUs are just more programmable. The Holley laptop software is essentially the same for all the ECUs though.
One thing to keep in mind is that unfortunately the Sniper can be affected by RFI and it will really screw with the tune if it's bad enough. The OP should check for RFI in the data logs. You can see evidence of RFI in the trace lines when you right-click and choose "mark data points". It shows up as longer gaps in the traces. In some instances it will even reset the ECU but that does not sound likely in this situation. RFI could be anything - crossed wires, the air cleaner stud etc.
OP should also be sure to go through the static timing check and make sure it's right.
