
Short Term Fuel Trim
Short T erm Fuel Trim (STFT) represents short term corrections to the fuel injector pulse width calculations, based
on the oxygen sensor input signals to the PCM.
When the engine is star ted c old, in open loop, the PCM will control the fuel injection pulse width based upon various
sensor inputs such as RPM, ECT, IAT , MAP, MAF and TP sensor until the oxygen sens ors becom e hot enough to
operate properly. During this open loop period, both Short T er m Fuel Trim ( ST F T ) and Long Ter m Fuel Trim (LTFT )
are disabled and will read 0% on a Tech 2 scan tool.
When the oxygen sensors have reached normal operating temperature, they will produce a varying voltage to the
PCM and provide a good indication of what has happened in the combustion chambers.
At this time the PCM will switch from open loop to closed loop and the STFT will start to constantly monitor the
oxygen sensor signals, so that the PCM can modify fuel injector pulse width with greater accuracy than in open
loop.
STFT monitors the oxygen sensor signals so that it can adjust the fuel injector pulse width to maintain an air/fuel
ratio of 14.7 to 1 f or max imum catalytic converter ef ficiency. An STFT value of 0% is equivalent to an air/f uel ratio of
14.7 to 1 and an average oxygen sensor signal voltage of 450 mV.
The normal position for STFT is 0%, any change from this value indicates the STFT is changing the fuel injector
pulse width. The amount of pulse width change depends upon how far the STFT value is from 0%. If the STFT
value is above 0%, the fuel injector pulse width is being increased, thus adding more fuel. If the STFT value is
below 0%, the fuel injector pulse width is being decreased, thus removing fuel.
If an engine has a r es tr icted fuel filter , the low f uel pres s ure will res ult in les s f uel being inj ec ted and allows more air
into the charge than is needed to ignite the amount of fuel the fuel injector has injected, therefore, a lean air/fuel
ratio exists in the combustion chamber. After combustion has taken place, the exhaust gases still contain more
oxygen content than nor mal and the oxygen sensors read this as low voltage, say 200 mV. The ST FT detects that
the oxygen sensor signals are low and will increase the value to richen up the air/fuel mixture. On a Tech 2 scan
tool it will display ST FT as a value above 0%. T his STFT change will increase the injector pulse width allowing the
fuel injectors to stay open longer and inject more fuel.
If the additional fuel was injected and the oxygen sensor signal voltages are still low, the STFT will continue to
increase its value until the oxygen sensor signal voltages go above 450 mV. If the STFT continues to detect low
oxygen sensor signal voltages it will continue to try and compensate for the lean exhaust condition until it runs out of
its authority in the particular Long T er m Fuel Trim (L T F T ) c ell it's oper ating in. At this point, the PCM will reset STFT
to 0% and go through this procedure again until it can control the system.
If after a specif ied am ount of resets have been tr ied and failed, the PCM k nows that it cannot contr ol for the failur e
and the STFT will remain at its maximum value.
STFT values ar e bas ed on the oxygen sensor s ignal voltage readings , theref or e, STF T is used by the PCM to make
quick changes to the fuel injector pulse width over a short period of time.
Long Term Fuel Trim
LTFT is used to adjust for engine to engine variation and to adjust for engine aging. LTFT is a portion of the PCM
memor y used to adjus t fuel deliver y ac ross all operating conditions of the engine. T he PCM m onitors the ST FT and
will adjust the long term trend of the f uel injector pulse width if the STF T has been at a value f or a certain per iod of
time. LTFT is used to change the long term fuel injector pulse width and is only operational when the fuel control
system is in Closed Loop. A normal LTFT value is 0% and should follow the STFT value.
If an engine has a restric ted fuel filter, the low fuel pr essure will result in les s fuel being injected and will caus e the
STFT value to go higher than 0%, say 2%. If this STFT value change does not compensate for the restricted fuel
filter, the PCM will continue to increase the STFT value. The STFT may climb as high as its maximum calibrated
value if there is a severe restriction. The PCM will continue to monitor STFT as it climbs, but it will not make any
changes to the f uel injector puls e width for a specif ic period of time. Af ter a specif ic period of time has elapsed and
the STFT value has remained above say +8%, the LTFT will move up to say 4% and wait again to detect if the
STFT has dropped bac k down to 0%. If not, the ST F T will gradually move toward its maximum c alibr ated value limit
until it gains control of the fuel injection system. If STFT and LTFT are both set at their maximum value limit, the
fuel control system is out of the limits of control and will set a Diagnostic Trouble Code and go into open loop
operation.
The PCM will keep the lates t LTFT values stor ed in its LTFT m emor y cells . MAF sensor r eadings and engine RPM
are used by the LTFT to determine what cell to read. LTFT values are stored in the PCM's long term memory, for
use each time the engine's RPM and load matches one of the LTFT cells. All LTFT values are reset to 0% when the
PCM's long term mem ory power s upply is disconnec ted. The Tec h 2 scan tool also has the ability to reset LTFT to
0% with a special command.