I've spent the past hour reading threads without finding an answer so my apologies if this is a repeat.

I bought a 94 Toyota v6 3.0 EFI last summer with 182,xxx knowing that it most likely needed a head gasket. The frame and truck had no rust (very rare for Maine).

I drove the truck short distances and didn't haul anything major in it. Finally right before winter I had the head gaskets done.

When I had the head gasket done they also did the timing belt, water pump and a bunch of other miscellaneous things. They had to flush the radiator multiple times, and said that I should come back and have it flushed again because of the build up of oil in it.

A couple weeks after this I went and started my truck on a 0 degree day. I came out 15 or so minutes after and the truck was overheating, steam was pouring out from under the hood. I have no idea how long it overheated for. I immediately shut it off. I got it towed to the mechanic. They ended up replacing the radiator because it was still so gunked up. I believe they did a compression test and said the heads should be fine.

A couple weeks after I was driving home and the truck suddenly stalled out at a light. I looked down and noticed the temp gauge was getting very close to over heating again. I pulled over, turned the truck off and got it towed once more to the mechanics. Again there was oil in my coolant and it seemed to have clogged the radiator. There was no coolant in my oil though. They pulled the heads off, had them sent out and tested at a machine shop. The heads had not been compromised and were still good. They replaced the gaskets and gave me a serious discount on the labor.

If you are still with me, here I am a couple weeks later. There is definitely oil still in my reserve coolant tank. I've noticed that my oil level is slowly getting lower on my dip stick. This truck is not my daily driver, and I've only put maybe 500-600 miles on it since the last head gasket replacement.

They had mentioned that there was the slight chance I could have a crack in the block. I opted not to have the block sent out the second time the gaskets were done because I figured they were compromised when it overheated on that very cold morning.

I've already invested way more into this truck than I'm willing to admit and I don't really have the money to replace the engine if that's the case. Based on my story, are there any other plausible causes for oil in the coolant besides a crack in the block? They never found any coolant in the oil, but figured it was because of the PSI differences in the coolant and oil flow.

I appreciate any advice or info. Many thanks in advance. Other than these major issues this truck has been amazing.

 

Photo finally figured out