Chevy HHR Failure to Start or Start then Stall Problem

This fall my HHR started having issues with starting.  By Christmas time it no longer started.  At one point I spent over 30 minutes trying to start it.  When it started there was a multicolored puddle of gas under the tailpipe.  It always smelled of too much gas.  I changed the spark plugs and the old plugs were covered in black from too much gas.

The HHR would sometimes start, and if I pumped the gas it would eventually sustain.  Eventually I discovered that if I floored the gas pedal before starting it it would usually start.  Through research I discovered that flooring the gas pedal should shut off all gas to the motor!  Eventually the check engine light came on.  Here are the codes and what they meant.

The codes are:

P0300 Engine Misfire Detected

P0107 Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) Sensor

P0122/P0123/P0223 Throttle Position (TP) Sensor.

P0171 System too Lean

The auto store wanted over $250 in parts.  I bought the MAP sensor on eBay for $10 and the Throttle body form the 1490 motors (an auto salvage place) for $40.  The exact same codes came back on again.  I was getting really frustrated.  Then I got thinking, how could so many sensors be so wrong?  So I decided to replace the motor ground wire.  When I looked at the old wire one end seemed loose.  I puled on it and the wire came right out!  After close examination I determined that the wire was never crimped into the connector.

Here is the new crimped and soldered triple ground wire.  It runs from the right side of the motor to the right strut tower.

This is a close up of the bolt on the cam cover that the ground wire is connected to.

Now I just touch the key for a fraction of a second and the car starts right up!