I've been putting a lot of thought into it, trying to come up a "game plan."

For a while now, I have been getting some oil in the intake tract. I replaced the PCV valve about 8k miles ago, so I didn't think it could be the issue. I picked up a new one anyway, and will be installing it soon. I suppose that the oil could be getting into the cylinders, and then burning away. This is my hope, anyway.

As for the smell, I will check it the next time I start it up. When the car is running, it smells like normal exhaust. Makes me feel a little loopy the instant that I sniff the tailpipe, so it must be normal then.

I occasionally get a wiff of burning oil when driving, so now that I think of it, I will definitely check the odor on startup.