Burning Oil after Head Gasket Replacement (5VZ-FE)

I recently had the head gasket and spark plugs replaced on my 2001 V6 Tacoma by a licensed mechanic. It was burning oil, about a quart or so, between oil changes (5K miles) before getting the gasket replaced.

It has been about a month or so since I had it replaced and I checked the oil today and it was once again on the low dot on the dipstick. I also noticed that the coolant reservoir was low and that is not typical for my truck.

Would anyone know an issue that would cause this? I am wondering if the water pump may be going bad now too or somehow the coolant is getting somewhere it shouldn't be? The exhaust doesn't smell sweet and there was no coolant on my dipstick so I am pretty confused.

Thanks!

 

Did they do both head gaskets or just one side?

You said it was burning oil before the job? A head gasket typically has nothing to do with oil consumption.

A faulty PCV valve can cause oil consumption, it would be a cheap/easy thing to change just to rule it out but in most cases oil consumption is caused by worn or carboned up/stuck piston rings or leaking valve stem seals.

Any visible external leaks, coolant or oil?

 

Why don't you take it back to the licensed mechanic? They should be able to tell you pretty quickly if the head gasket job was not done well or it failed again.

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

Jason - That is one of the issues I am having. I am drastically losing confidence in this shop and I am not sure if they would even try to resolve the issue.

Dm93 - Thank you for the tips, I will check and replace the PCV valve this week. The only reason I thought that the gasket would be related is because it would also visibly leak from them as well before replacement. There are also no visible leaks of any kind.

 

If they did a head machined, the valve seals were changed and it possible one is leaking.

As for coolant its hard to say, top it up and see if it drops.

 

PCV would be a cheap, quick thing to try. Oil burning is usually piston rings, sometimes valve seals, but usually not head gaskets.

 

Make sure all the PCV lines are routed properly, it's pretty straight forward but you never know.

 

Perhaps the coolant level was never topped off.

Bad radiator Cap?

Smelling any coolant in the cab Heater cores like to leak just to be mean.

Pressure test cooling system for the peace of mind.

 

How many miles on your motor?

Cylinder wall wear. The thrust surface of the piston riding on the cylinder wall wore off the cross hatch.

Ghetto repair. Pull cylinder heads drop the oil pan and hone the cyl walls

 

Doing all that work to remove the oil pan just pull the engine.

 

Thats why I asked how many miles on Engine.

If it's low miles and the walls are not tapered. Really no reason to pull the engine.
The "Mechanic" should have checked the cylinder wall for wear before slapping the heads back on.

 

I will pull the engine before the oil pan.

What ever the reason .

 

Pull the plugs one by one and look in the cylinders with a camera at the rings and cylinder walls like someone said .
You never told us the mileage ?