Hi all,

One day, out of the blue, the car had trouble starting... took like four tries.
Once it started all was fine.
Initial thought was bad fuel, had just filled it up.
Next mornings hard starting again, but better.
Since then the car will have some trouble catching up every morning, but starts with the first try, coughs a bit and then all is well. Every next start is fine and no other problems.

Two weeks ago though I got the P0171/P0174 lean codes.
Car has 125.000Km and I have installed and running on Ethanol.
LTFT are around 18%

I am trying to figure out if it's the car's problem or the Ethanol control unit.

I changed the PCV valve with a new one that's supposed to be original, it looks identical, makes the same hissing noise, and no change. Maybe it's also bad?
I disconnected the PCV hose, plugged the intake hole but left the crankcase hole open.
Fuel trims did not change.
I didn't think at the time to cap the crankcase as well to see what would have happened.

Did a smoke test and found two small air leaks:

Intake duct to the throttle body. Easily fixed by adding a piece of a tyre inner tube on the throttle body and now it's a very snug fit.

EGR Valve... both above and under the plastic spacer.
Is my EGR valve is dead?
Anyhow, I took the valve out, cleaned it put an o-ring at the bottom and some sealant between the plastic spacer and the motor top cover.

Long term fuel trims are down but still at 10% 14%, both on idle and light throttle cruising

Fuel tank has vacuum and the fuel cap seal looks ok.
Oil filler cap seal is also good as well as the oil dipstick.
Checked the PCV hoses and replaced all the o-rings.
Air filter is new.
No leaks from the intake manifold or the gas recirculation system, or vat least from what I could see.
Reset adaptations.

MAF Sensor:
Was slightly dirty, cleaned with contact cleaner, no change.
A thing I've noticed is that when I start the engine (warm) the MAF will initially show 5.7g/sec but slowly fall to 4.5g/sec.
Normal?
On WOT it went up to 230g/sec.
Intake air temperature readings are correct.

These are the latest values at idle with everything connected:

Click image to enlarge