I have an 05 6mt with almost 110k miles. Just last night on the way home from work my SES light came on. I figured it mite just be the gas cap so I tighten it right when I got home. Today the light remained on throughout the day while I ran a few errands. Still I thought nothing of it because I figured it may take a couple days for the light to reset. I still drive the car like nothing is wrong.
Tonight on the way home from work again, I took the last turn pretty hard and the SES light started to blink. I slowed down and the light became solid again.
I haven't had time to check it with the scanner yet so I'm asking my gdrivers for some advice.
The car idles like normal so I don't think there are any leaks anywhere but I could be wrong.
I changed the plugs about 5k miles ago with some laser platinum ones. Cylinder 6 had a bit of oil in it but I cleaned it.

The car idles and drives like normal; however on really hot days the car does feel sluggish at times.
I plan on changing my oil tomorrow also.

 

We can offer no help until you post any codes that pop up when scanned. Until then it could be hundreds of issues that caused the SES light to come on.

 

Not to be a jerk, but the advice we'd give is to go get the code read.

No point guessing when the answer is a scanner-read away

 

Got it read this morning. The code I got is p0021.

 

have you tried going into auto parts store like autozone they give you more info on what it could be when you give the code and your car info

 

P0021 is Intake Valve Timing Control Performance Bank 2. I read up a bit about it and some people said to do an oil change. This is also what the mechanic recommended I do. He told me that he could reset the code and I can do the oil change when I got home. On the drive home I also noticed that my oil light would come on when the cars weight would shift towards the front.
I just finished the oil change and drove it around on the freeway and the light hasn't come on yet. I was also low about 3 quarts. Hopefully everything is fixed.

thanks

 

When the oil light comes on that's a very bad thing. Hopefully you didn't damage your engine, being 3 quarts low you were only running 2 quarts in the motor so keep an eye on it for future issues. Since the VQ has an aluminum block, when it's starved of lubrication the heads can warp or the motor can develop other major issues. Please check your oil regularly, if you don't you'll be shelling out thousands of $$ for a new motor.

 

Its weird because the dipstick always shows oil on it when I check. I did my last oil change at 104k and was planning to do another at 110k. I know that the VQs are known for oil consumption so I checked it at 106k, during this time I could tell it was low so I added another quart.
When the SES light came on, I checked my dipstick and it always had oil on it so it looked like it wasn't low. I took it out, wiped it off, put it back in and pulled it back out and there was oil. maybe my dipstick is defective or something.

 

Have you waited 20-30 minutes after the engine is turned off before checking the dipstick?

 

Nope. Did not know I had to wait that long. I checked it while pumping gas.

 

Yeah, i find that in order to get an accurate rreading, i need to park the car on a level surface, wait 30 mins and then check.

 

In our tech manual it says to wait as well.

 

cool. thanks