ok so the BPV is ruled out... just took a drive and had it plugged up, same sound, same power loss... i did however notice a new symptom. when i started up the car there was a smell of raw gas from the exhaust and once i got the car warmed up there was white smoke coming out of the exhaust. i know typically this means a blown head gasket, but i never heard of the things that are going on with my car as being related with a blown head gasket so im thinking it may be something else... any ideas? i know this is getting a little ridiculous but its really pissing me off and i dont want to take it to a garage, get charged a bazillion $$ for something that i could fix myself, or atleast take it to them knowing whats wrong and bypassing all the diagnostics BS... thanks a lot for all the help so far