O2 Sensors, Got Data, what is wrong?

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Positive fuel trims indeed indicate that it is compensating for a lean condition by adding fuel. I would look for a vacuum leak close to the bank 2 intake ports if the long-term fuel trims are more than, say, 5% positive (some will say 10% positive and the check engine light comes on at 25% positive)

The O2 sensor readings will look fine because the function of fuel trim is to correct the readings from the O2 sensors by adding or subtracting fuel as needed.
 
What else can cause the lean condition? Would faulty O2 sensors cause it?

My bank 2 cats turned red hot as i revved the engine in the garage. I noticed the rear o2 sensor for bank 2 was not disabled even though I disabled it via the PCM (reflashed it).

I will try swapping the O2 sensors from bank 1 to 2 and vice versa to see if its the O2 sensors.

My long term trims get wiped out each time I reflash the PCM.
 
Engine: 4.6L SOHC V8
Rear O2 sensors are disabled via the PCM

Bank 1 read between 0% and +10 % for short term fuel trim but the voltage transitions went below 0.2V and above 0.8V

Bank 2 read between 10% and +20% for short term fuel trim, and the voltage transitions were about the same.

What does this mean? Leaky fuel injector(s) on bank 2? The O2s *look* fine from the voltage readings.

Need help!

Bank 2 is the driver's side.

I started up the car in 30F ambient and let the ECT rise up above the point where it switches from open loop to closed loop. I sniffed the exhaust and it was just steam and a hint of hydrocarbon combustion, nothing that signified one tailpipe had "more gas" than the other.

Is this a sign of a leaky injector? I thought a positive fuel trim reading meant it was leaner?

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Update:
I turned off adaptive fuel on a hunch that the cats were FINE but the O2 sensors were FUBAR'D.

Here are the results:
Long Term Fuel Trim: no data
Rear O2 sensors are disabled, but Bank 2 sensor 2 is still somehow active
ECT was run from ambient to 210F.

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Unless the intake manifold somehow sealed itself on bank 2 and leaked on bank 1, or the cams/cam timing changed over to bank 1, etc...

The cats did NOT glow red this time! There was a lot of water/steam from the exhaust, there was no burning smell, etc...

The only thing different now is adaptive learning is disabled.

There was no LT fuel data, I let it idle and revved it a few times in the garage for about 10 min but nothing appeared.

I hope this information helps.
 
Just randon stuff:

A given pair of O2 sensors rarely output the same voltage for a given amount of O2 in an exhaust stream. On a new pair of primary sensors the voltages are very close and your fuel trims are usually close as well. Age the sensors awhile and you have a dropoff of switching rates as well as output voltage. Your PCM/ECM compensates for this, hence your fuel trims. Some sensors age better than others. This is one cause of different fuel trims between banks.

Intake leaks (going to one bank or the other) cause different trims as well. This has not been a concern on any 4.6 I have worked on as the vac system runs into a common plenum and I have yet to run into a runner leak.

Check engine lights with one bank or the other coding lean: A surprising number of single bank lean codes are caused by a 1)common vac leak, 2)low fuel pressure, 3) bad MAF. Remember, one O2 is often "weaker" than another. Even though a sensor is within spec, a slowly developing vac leak or MAF concern will cause that weak O2 bank to code first. Swapping in a new sensor is a temp fix as the car will come back in later with a lean code for the other bank. Been there done that when I was a newb.

MAF: Rich trims at idle (-trims), lean trims (+) at cruise/acceleration usually mean a MAF concern. A bad fuel pressure reglator can mimic the rich at idle so check that out as well.

Hot cats: For a cat to get overheated you have to have two things, O2 and fuel. A misfire is a good way for this to happen, it is also the reason OBD2 systems have a missfire monitor-it saves the cats. Remember also, an O2 sensor reads a missfire as a lean condition (O2 sensors only measure the O2 in the exhaust) and compensates by adding even more fuel to that missfiring bank. Simply running rich will not cause a cat overheat, unless you have an AIR system. Rich condition and AIR injection= hot.

You said you had no long term data. I would pay attention to this as this is where you will notice a real problem. I usually select long/short term trim, O2 voltage(crosscounts if available),injector PW, and MAF voltage when going on a test drive and get recordings at idle/acceleration and cruise to look at. Many times a bad O2 will just go flatline for a few seconds (a "dropout")during a test drive.

Just looking at your readings, I don't really see anything that I would be unduly worried about. Your trims are still within an easily correctible range. The only thing that concerns me is your cat situation. I would verify I don't have a small missfire (check your ignition etc), if it is OBD2, get your missfire data as well during a drive.

I ramble too much.
 
You could try swapping the bank 1 and bank 2 O2 sensors and see if the fuel trim problem moves to bank 1.

If it does, you might want to get a Bosch O2 sensor and get that $10 gas card rebate...
 
Hi

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm only getting overly lean trims (+) for the short term. I am somehow not getting any long term trim data whatsoever possibly due to me not actually driving the car (its in a garage) after reflashing the PCM.

However, Bank 1 and Bank 2 taking turns showing 8%-10% lean is spooking me out. Also, the cats have been burning up for the past month. Luckily I have not smelled that sulfur/burning smell this weekend, but the only thing I really did differently was turn adaptive learning off.

What are my options now?

Clean the MAF sensor wires with electric contact cleaner?
 
Is it possible that the bank 1 and bank 2 sensors are swapped and therefore installed in the wrong bank? (What I mean is that the connector for sensor 1 is actually plugged into the sensor for bank 2 and vice-versa).

I thought Ford had added a check for this problem in the newer ECUs..I've heard of them getting swapped in Mustang 5.0s after major work and the symptoms are very wierd (each bank alternating between rich and lean)
 
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