Cranks, doesn't start after carpet removal

[Barra]

I'm not sure what I did here. A few weeks back I had a insulated mug roll off the front passenger seat, popped open , and emptied an entire coffee on the passenger carpet. After a week of smelling like rotten milk I pulled up the carpet to find it has flowed all the way to the back and soak into the thick underfoam of the carpet. I pulled the seats, center console, and the entire carpet out to clean them off and wiped down the entire floor pan both driver and passenger side. I was realized halfway through wiping it down that the battery was still connected but I was only spraying 409 on the floor pans and didn't spray any electrical connectors.

I let everything dry out for 4 days then reinstalled everything. The car powers on fine, all dash electronics work fine. Car turns over but does not start. Fuel pump fuse is intact. CEL after a few seconds of powering on blinks, so it seems like a misfire and I can smell fuel at the tailpipe. I'm at a loss however as to anything I could have done under the carpet that would cause the car not to fire. Any ideas?

[Vansquish]

Have you pulled codes? That might be helpful.

[Barra]

Not yet. Won't have access to a scan tool until this weekend.

[MSMS3]

Originally Posted by Barra Not yet. Won't have access to a scan tool until this weekend.

Dumb question, but did you rinse out the 409 with enough water that it could have gotten to any of the wiring harness up under the dash, or the OBD2 plug just above the driver’s knee?

Might need to let it dry out more.

A code scan would be really helpful.

[wingcmdr]

Do these cars have a fuel cutoff in the cabin like the late 90's explorers do? If so make sure you didn't bump it and trip it while cleaning. I know on the explorers its on the passenger side against the firewall under the dash/glovebox

[Jeff23spl]

there isn't much pass the dash related to engine, especially for a 3 with the ecu in the engine bay...Somes connectors in the kick panels but not much
Do you have any sort of remote starter or safety installed, i would try to look there first.

You should check for sparks, maybe you got another problem that just appear at the same time. turn up 4 coils with plugs installed with a grounding strap and check for spark while cranking.
you can take a look at the tiny ground above the hpfp too....

[Anaphra]

The 5.0 explorer's? Those are pretty cool NGL

[Barra]

Sorry for the late update. I pulled codes but it didn't list any. It did have a number of faults on many sensor pre-checks including O2 sensor, EGR, and a couple others.

I ended up charging the battery back up (was at 11.95v) and that seemed to fix it. It struggled to start but eventually fired up. I still am not sure what happened. It was getting fuel and turning over. Maybe the voltage was just poor enough that it cranked but didn't spark? I have NO idea why that would ever happen.

It's been almost a week and it's been running fine.

[wingcmdr]

Originally Posted by Anaphra The 5.0 explorer's? Those are pretty cool NGL

Yep! My daily, until the MS6 is back up, is my 97 Mountianeer (5.0 AWD)