Wouldn't various A/F ratio problems such as vacuum leaks, low fuel pressure or clogged injectors cause a constant adjustment to fuel trims, first via STFT and then to LTFT? For example, if there is a air / vacuum leak significant enough to cause noticable idle problems wouldn't that cause a more or less constant attempt by the computer to compensate by adding fuel, even at idle?
asked Oct 25, 2015 at 23:51
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The computer is going to try and compensate, but most of the time the leak creates too much of a lean condition for it to compensate. Or, the computer is maxed out in trying to compensate. I don't have an exact answer for you ... I'll have to look at my fuel injection books to maybe come up with a coherent answer. Maybe someone else can help you better in the mean time.– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦Commented Oct 26, 2015 at 0:07
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@Paulster2 So if I'm seeing both trims staying at zero except under medium to heavy acceleration ( and then only going up to 14.5% while heavy load and acceleration are maintained ) then my idle problem probably doesn't have anything to do with A/F I'm assuming.– Robert S. BarnesCommented Oct 26, 2015 at 5:19
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I would think that's the case. Sounds like @vini_i has a handle on your main question for you.– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦Commented Oct 26, 2015 at 22:40
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2 Answers
You have hit the nail on the head.
When the car is in closed loop, this part is important, the fuel trims reflect the current A/F ratio. When a vacuum leak develops, first the car will compensate withe the sort term fuel trims. When the STFT stay high long enough (every car is different) they will cause the LTFT to drift.
Current fuel systems are so tight that inducing even the slightest leak will be reflected first by the STFT and then by the LTFT even at idle. This is actually a great test to see if a car is in fuel control. Induce a vacuum leak while watching the fuel trims they should climb. Then using propane, induce some in to the system and the fuel trims should fall.
It does to a certain point but it has to be limited to avoid engine damage.
The basics:
ECM first set it's base value let say 3.5ms. This is received from signals such Airmass, TPS, crankshaft position sensor etc. When both the long and short term fuel trim sit in they mid value 0% the injection pulse width is unmodified.
Changing conditions result in a different calculated engine load, the 3.5 ms base injection duration will reduce or increase. Oxygen sensor (O2) will fine tune this value depending on the various conditions through the STFT (short term fuel trim).
Most engines are design to run at stoichiometric ratio 14.7:1, that is 14.7 part of air to 1 part of fuel. This is the best ratio for clean emissions, one of the reasons why STFT even exist is to compensate for engine wear, altitude, climate and to a certain point problems in the engine.
Imagine the software in the ECM is design to set a min. base value of 2.5ms and maximum value of 4.5ms. If there is problem in the engine that will cause the injection value to either increase or decrease beyond this threshold a fault code 'mixture adaption value out range' will be logged. This is to simply prevent drive ability problems and engine damage.
You can't just keep on dumping more and more fuel if you have a vacuum leak for example. To much fuel will create bore wash (dry cylinder walls) which will lead to excessive oil consumption, residual fuel will ignite inside the CAT (catalytic converter) melting it down. This is already a case if you drive with a normal problematic engine for a period of time.
Hope that helps.
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1You might find your efforts more rewarded if you choose recent questions to answer, and also ones that have not been answered. Commented Aug 17, 2019 at 5:51
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I would add one little nuance - engines don't actually run at stoichiometric, the computer constantly oscillates the mixture slightly above and below stoichiometric ( about +/- 2-3 % ) for the benefit of the different stages of the catalytic converter. Commented Aug 19, 2019 at 11:52