Exhaust in bay damage or what?

[igor]

hello,

I pulled out the AIV on my '89 240sx (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??

It may just be a coincedence that this started after the exhaust bit. The day before i also lifted the valve cover to inspect the timing chain guides (seemed ok), and changed the oil (went from 10-30 to 10-40) and also that same morning it happened i put in 93 octane instead of 87 or whatever regular is that i used to use. Can it be a timing or some kind of ignition problem? Destributor (but why suddenly)?? Also, i think i screwed up the thread on a bolt or 2 that hold down the valve cover so its not as tightly held down anymore. Can this be a problem? ie no pressure in there? It ran fine up until when it wouldnt start though.

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!

[NISTECH]

isnt your coil near where that exhuast leak is? if so you could of cooked your coil. they dont get along with that type of heat.