Thanks for the vid, Mike. I also like how the guy thanked Uncle Sam for mandating ethanol in fuel and drumming up business.

If my little girl gives me a few free minutes tomorrow, I'll test that out. How easy a fix is it?

Its WAY easy if you have a set of snap ring pliers. Just remove the snap ring, pull out the FPR and done.

Back to my thread... I can start my car 95% of the time now. The problem now is that every so often, the car will stall, particularly while coasting downhill. Now I get code P0103 (MAF high reading). More fun times lie ahead.

Wonder why disconnecting the MAF sensor had no effect before, but now I get a code for it...

Some sensors have to "fail" a number of times before it will trip a code.

My Bonneville had that symptom and was tough to start before the upper intake manifold completely let go at about 117,000 miles. The white smoke makes me think you're leaking a little coolant into the cylinders.

The stalling while running could be an unrelated crank sensor failure. I only mention this because on my Bonneville, the UIM and CKP sensor were back-to-back problems.

The MAF code and possible FPR issue make me think your problem is elsewhere, but hey, it'* some food for thought.

After browsing around on the boards (as well as cleaning the MAF without seeing improvement except for getting rid of the code), the crankshaft position sensor might be the culprit.

Sounds like I do have multiple things going on, however. Which to tackle first... I'm guessing the CKP.

Update:

Changed fuel filter today. Car hesitates much less than it was doing before, but still did it here and there. I'm gonna keep track of it over the next few days. If it still does it, then it'* time to get down to the harder stuff.

Did you check the fuel pressure regulator like Mike suggested? Very simple to do. Pull the vacuum hose off and smell for gas in the hose.

Will do that tomorrow on my day off.

Update again: Car'* back to its old tricks.

Just remembered that I had checked the fuel pressure regulator before... checked it again today though, just to make sure. Nope, not the problem.