I was dreading that I was looking at my first (3rd overall) injector out of warranty (5yrs, not mileage 69K).

I was experiencing hard starts, loping/stumbling for a few seconds and a white puff of smoke.

No diesel in fuel however.

I had my oil changed the weekend before last 10/15/11 and changed the fuel filter (I do them every 6 months regardless of mileage) This time it had been about 10k miles typically it's only around 6k.

Since then easy starts, no stumbling, and no white smoke.

I could see hard start and stumbling from a clogged/restricted filter, but white smoke?