Burning Oil + Coolant = Overheating

[2009ToyYaris]

Help!!

-Vehicle History-

2009 Toyota Yaris, 235K miles. It has never seen a professional mechanic, I have done all the maintenance myself.

-Coolant-

My one neglect was never checking the coolant until recently ~8k miles ago.
When I did check the level through the hose cap it was near bone dry. So I flushed it and filled it up with the red Toyota coolant. I took about a gallon out, but the car only let me put back in about 3/4 gallon, until the next day I was about to put the rest of the gallon.

-Oil-

Started using regular 5w30 Conventaional oil.
-I have been using Valvoline 5w30 Conventional High Mileage after 100k miles.
-Switched to Valvoline 5w30 Full Synthetic High Mileage at about 215k.
I change the oil and filter every time the maintenance indicator comes on, about 5K. The last three time it has been about a quart low. This last change I switched to Mobil 1 Full Synthetic High Mileage, Because I couldn't find Valvoline in-stock.

-The Overheating Problems-

I was driving to work in the morning about 65 degrees out.
My engine usually is warm by time I hit the freeway. This particular day the engine cold indicator came back on. It was followed but a hot indicator, back to cold, back to hot. I immediately pulled off the freeway and opened the hood to let it cool down. This drive was a total of 4.6 miles

After 20 minutes of cooling down I checked the two fluids. Coolant was empty and the oil was not showing up on the dipstick. Poor engine, I gave it a little bit more than 1/2 a gallon of distilled water(the only amount I had in my car at the time) I'm sure it could have taken more water and a $13 dollar quart of 10w30 full synthetic oil, because they didn't have 5w30 at the gas station.

Drove it home and I had to take a chevy to work how embarrassing lol

Any reasons why It depleted my two fluids, I don't have any leaks under my Yaris. I was thinking of a possible blown head gasket knowing the warm engine turned cold then hot(possibly fluids mixing and sudden temperature change.)
Also the day before I took it to the store (5 miles away) the A/C was not blowing cold, nor was the heater blowing hot. The fan was just putting out room temp. Before this I would drive to work and a total of 25 miles each way with speed upwards of 80miles and the Yaris' engine would perform fine.

Thanks for your time.

[ex-x-fire]

Pressure check the cooling system and look for leaks, are you leaking oil too? When you fill the cooling system do you warm it up with the cap off? Air can get trapped inside the system and cause it to puke coolant.
Me, personally I use the most basic brand oil and never have any issues. All the expensive oil is not needed on these basic cars.

[bronsin]

NAPA sells a kit for testing your antifreeze for a leak through the head gasket. That may be where your coolant is going. Do you have white smoke coming out the exhaust? That would indicate a head gasket. The temp on and off again light is weird I don’t have any explanation.

Goes without saying you need to check your oil level once a week. My wife 2005 Camry with 198,000 miles uses 1/4 of a quart every three weeks and I top it up like clockwork.

Good luck Tell us what happens!

[bronsin]

Oh I thought of a reason for the on-again off-again temp lite. When cooling touches the sensor you get a red light. When the air touches the sensor it goes back to cold. That would explain it

[2009ToyYaris]

Of the many signs of a head gaskets failure, I am not getting white smoke.(coolant through the exhaust.) Any reason why my interior cabin temp was not changing the day before? It want not getting hot or cold as usual.

[bronsin]

Originally Posted by 2009ToyYaris

Of the many signs of a head gaskets failure, I am not getting white smoke.(coolant through the exhaust.) Any reason why my interior cabin temp was not changing the day before? It want not getting hot or cold as usual.

Air in the system. Air doesn’t transfer heat Like water

[sh0rtlife]

air in the system can and will do VERY strange things and "burping" said air is not always simple

the fact that you sucked down the oil and the water tells me cracked head or toast head gasket..with few exceptions

these cars were designed to be self burping thankfully,

LEVEL GROUND, fill it at the hose cap not the bottle , and leave the cap off and let it idle and keep topping it up till it wont take any more, let it run for 5-10 mins, keep tabs on the fluid, when it kicks the cooling fan on watch the water like a hawk....heater should be on at max the entire time btw, with the fan cycling on/off you need to keep exceptionaly close eye on the water level and keep topping it up as needed, once it wont take any more and the fans cycled on/off atleast 5 times, put the cap on, top off the resevoir and shut it down, let it sit for about an hour idealy..and re-check the resivoir ONLY..it will likely be down a little bit...they take in fluid as they cool

as for the oil well look for leaks

[remcafee]

also youare not using the correct coolant, you need to use super long life coolant which is pink, you are using long life thats red