Damage may have already been done, good chance if the injector was stuck open it was just dumping a ton of fuel.

 

I really hope not!

primetime - I have not done the coils just yet. It can be a bit pricey to do all 4, so I'm holding off on that. Wanting to try and rule out the easy/cheap fixes first. Unless there is an easy way to test the coils?

 

Thumb rule I stick with: when changing out spark plugs, be sure to change the coil packs as well.

Just buy a coil pack and return them if they do not fix the issue.

 

that's a good idea. I was able to get hold of a cheap oem fpr, so I'm gonna switch them out and see what happens there. If still nothing then I'll purchase coil packs and return them if it still doesn"t solve the issue. Hopefully it's either coil packs or fpr, so I can get back to driving my car!

 

 

so I think the problem is fixed! I switched out the new fuel pressure regulator today and the car fired right up. Smoked quite a bit in the beginning, but I think that's from all the fuel that was dumped in there. It smoothened out, quit smoking, idled real good, and drove super smooth. I reset the codes and they haven't come back on yet. Hoping it stays that way! If they do then I'll switch out coil packs out, but I'm thinking about doing that sometime soon regardless since it's an 03 with 145k miles on it. If anyone ever experiences similar problems definitely don't overlook the fpr. Especially since It is one of the cheaper parts to replace. Thanks everyone for the help and input!!

 

After 6 months of long cranks over that time I ended up rebuilding the alternator (blinking dash lights), replacing battery, doing a tune up, had valves checked, and what finally fixed it for me was indeed the fuel pressure regulator. I only got one misfire code for cylinder 4 though. The FPR doesn't have any sensors connected to it and there's a paint indicator to show a mechanic if it's been replaced. I almost think it's an engineered way for the dealer to get a bunch of random work done for a simple fix.