AIV removal's aftermath. Need Help!

[igor]

hello,

I pulled out the AIV on my '89 (113k miles) yesterday. I capped all the vaccum hoses well but used a plastic cap on the little exhaust pipe which melted off while driving today. I thought it was no big deal, cranked the music, and waited to get home to plug it up with something more serious. Meanwhile, the exhaust from that pipe was shooting into the engine compartment for almost an hour of total driving. I stopped at a store, killed the engine and came back 10 minutes later only to find that it wont start. It turns over but cant seem to fire. I plugged the exhaust piece up real well and tried starting again. Still no luck. Visually inspected the distributor wiring, cleaned off the wires going to the spark plugs. Still no luck. Any idea on what to do next?? What could it possibly be?? What else can I check and how?? I want to max out my capabilities here before getting it towed to a mechanic. Any help or ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

[JJ240]

dunno what your intake is, but if you have a conical air filter on the end of your mafs mebbe the mafs got all gunked up. Doubt it but its possible.

[GroundZero]

more than likely you fouled your spark plugs, pull them out and check them, change if need be.

[JJ240]

How the hell would having an open hole in your headers foul the spark plugs...

[[Zero-S]]

I agree with JJ240...its a serious possibility that your MAFS is gunked up...especially with all the exhaust gases venting into your bay...but I don't think it would cause the engine not to start. It would start, run like crap, then die.

[lbrowne]

I think this problem really is a coincedence and not a directly related to that lil cap coming off. Strictly because I had thew exact same thing happen to me...the cap I used came off the header pipe and my car still ran fine, just sounded like an outboard motor.

[ride4lame]

this could be a long shot, but exhaust gas is really hot(duh) so check for any melted wires real close to that area