My car is 'chugging' whenever I stop or slow down, and when I go above 20 mh it still feels a bit odd, like something is trying to hold it back. When I got out of the car, I smelled burning rubber or something similiar.
I didn't look for the source of the smell because it was raining very hard, but I am sure it came from under the hood.

The chugging sound was like the engine was cycling very slowly, and the whole car vibrated.

Can anyone tell me what is wrong, and if I should be able to fix it myself.

I have already spent my last three paychecks on this piece of junk, I can't afford all these problems.

Thank you.