So, I have a 05 Cobalt base with 160,000. My oil pressure light would come on when braking or taking left turns, so I checked my oil level and the dipstick was dry. The car was also making a loud ticking noise. I drove it over to my local auto parts store, and ended up putting 4 quarts in. The dipstick is up to the 3/4 mark and the ticking is much quieter. So problem solved... not really. Where is my oil going!? There's no puddles or leaks from what I see, and it's not burning it. There's no smoke or smell. It's only been 2 months since my last oil change. Anyone know what might be happening?

 

Check for leaks? It had to go somewhere. Or your engine is worn out. 2 months is how many miles for you? If you drove 5000 miles on some crap oil it could be almost gone. Where was the last oil change done? What oil was used?

 

It's been about 5000 miles. I am running Valvoline Synthetic Blend. I got my last oil change at Valvoline (which I won't be doing again, it cost a small fortune)

 

Very possible they underfilled by a quart or so, and you're way over the mileage on their base quality oil.

Do an oil change, make sure it's at the full mark. Drive 500 miles and see if it drops unusually, it should be no more than a half quart down, in the middle on the dipstick. Cheap bulk oils used at firestone, goodyear, etc are low viscosity and have a weak additive package compared to their premium offerings, if you sent your oil out to be tested it would probably show as having very little life left and almost all the additive package used up, although in this case you didn't have much actual oil left so there may be another issue.

Check carefully for leaks, although ecotecs aren't too bad on leaking oil. It's possible your PCV is stuck open and allowing an excessive amount of oil to be burned through the engine, i'm sure if you pulled the valve cover it would be quite nasty in there from the mileage and long service intervals.

 

Ok, I'll change the oil myself this time so I know for a fact that it gets done properly. I had a leak a few months ago, and it was fixed, but I'll check to make sure that it's not leaking again.