2001 Bonneville SLE 230,000 miles

My car wouldn't start so ran it for codes got the bad egr code 1404. I replaced the EGR valve with a new part and the car started and ran great. I thought problem solved. I took a trip drove 500 miles there and 500 miles back. Once back in town the same bad EGR 1404 code. Did some research and came across a probable fix. 1. Disconnect the wire harness from the EGR valve. 2. Turn key ON and erase the trouble code(s) from the car's computer AND TURN KEY OFF IMMEDIATELY WHEN THE SCANNER SAYS CODES HAVE BEEN ERASED. DO NOT TURN KEY ON BEFORE YOU RE-CONNECT EGR WIRE HARNESS. 3. Re-connect EGR wire harness and your problem should be fixed. was hoping this would do the trick, but unfortunately it was a no go. Does any one have any ideas? Appreciate the help.

P1404 shouldn't cause a no start situation.

What was the vehicle doing when you were trying to start.. was it cranking but not starting? or no crank?

Cranking but not starting

My take is that the P1404 is entirely unrelated.

Being an intermittent problem makes this more challenging but I would start by checking that you're getting spark when the car is not starting. If you're unsure of how to do this, there are plenty of youtube videos of how to do so with just a screwdriver. It's the backyard method but it's effective enough.

I also want to add that I have had an intermittent P1404 before on my 01 SSEi with a new EGR (sorry don't remember the part brand) that I couldn't shake. I did the EGR position reset like you mentioned. All of my wiring tested out as fine; turned out the new EGR was faulty. EGR valves can be expensive so there are plenty of parts manufacturers that try to win on price, and often sacrifice quality in the process. Replaced my EGR valve with an AC Delco and was smooth sailing afterwards.

After trouble shooting this it came out to be a bad fuel pump which came as a surprise since the old fuel pump only had 23,000 miles on it. Hopefully the new one last longer. thanks for the help.