Air-fuel ratio control system for multi-cylinder internal combustion engines

An air-fuel ratio control system for a multi-cylinder engine is provided. An air-fuel ratio sensor is arranged in an exhaust system of the engine for detecting an air-fuel ratio of a mixture supplied to the engine and for generating an output indicative of the air-fuel ratio of the mixture. An adaptive controller determines an amount of fuel to be supplied to the engine with a first predetermined repetition period in a manner such that the output from the air-fuel ratio sensor becomes equal to a desired value. An adaptive parameter-adjusting mechanism adjusts adaptive parameters used by the adaptive controller. In the adaptive parameter-adjusting mechanism, the adaptive parameters are calculated with a second predetermined repetition period longer than the first predetermined repetition period, and output data indicative of results of the calculation is generated. Further, the output data indicative of results of the calculation is smoothed and output data indicative of the smoothed data is generated with a repetition period at least equal to the first predetermined repetition period. The adaptive controller uses the smoothed data as values of the adaptive parameters.