runs like hell and smokes in the morning.

[Jay-]

rough starting, gray smoke. as soon as I get down the road its just fine.
The darn EGR valve is capped off and I'm still attempting to get it removed/fixed. (classic stumbling)

Is this a sign the motor might never pass smog or its old/dying?
250K miles but I'm using it every other day mostly for fun.

Oil drips down after a few days then it burns up or is this a major sign?
My FJ40 did this but very very soon after that it quit after being in storage for 5 years.

my friend said its something about the choke and crappy cranky startups and the air flow things I mentioned needing to be fixed but its burning oil?

No preformance issues what so ever and the smoke clears up in a few minutes of warming up.

 

[SB Closer]

Rough cold starting, rough starting after engine is warm or all of the above? Like a ton of grey smoke or just a few puffs?

 

[Jay-]

not ton of gray smoke and only rough after the first AM start. A 30 min drive and its beaches and rock stars.
Come to think of it, I wake up coughing, wheeezing until I get my first espresso.