Hey guys. First of all, I want to say thanks for taking a look. Any advice you might have is much appreciated. I have a couple ideas on the issues I have going on, but I really don't know enough about these things to make a call and I need some pointers.

The first and major thing I have going on is a smell that is coming through the air vents inside the car. It seems to be the worst when the engine is cold. I'm thinking this is a blown gasket or something along these lines and oil is burning? This really concerns me and I know I need to get it fixed soon, but I don't want to take it somewhere and have them charge me some insane price for this. I did have the oil changed recently and there was some fresh oil that was on the skid plate, not a whole lot, but a little bit. Also, the guy changing the oil, I had him try and look at it, said he saw where a part of oxidizing due to an oil leak from a valve cover and to fix it, you'd have to take the head off the engine and replace the gaskets? If this is the case, how can I be certain that this is the issue? I've been reading about people replacing bolts and gaskets that have fixed an issue similar to this.

The next issue I have is a "shake" or misfire of the engine. It's only noticeable when the car is idling and most noticeable when the car is at an incline, either up or down, doesn't seem to matter too much, although down does seem a tad worse. You can feel it in the chair, like quick shakes back and forth, like it's not getting enough gas to the engine or something along those lines.

Any ideas, tips, questions, much appreciated, I love this car, but right now I am a bit concerned.

OH, and I was thinking about picking up a diagnostic tool for the car, to see if anything shows up. Any suggestions on a nice one (not too cheap, but not super expensive).