[Silound]

You say it makes a clicking noise while idling, but NOT like a cylinder about to "go out". Does that clicking noise increase in frequency or speed while the engine is running at a higher RPM (more importantly can you tell if it is still there?). Furthermore, you mentioned you just added a quart of oil...how often do you have to add oil? Generally it is not uncommon to add several additional ounces to an engine after an oil change, but adding a quart is a lot of oil.

Early 90's Toyota's with the 3L I6 all had one of two things in common that involve loss of oil:

A)The M-engine model developed bad lifters/rockers after about 90,000 miles. This was a direct side effect of the head gaskets cracking (sometimes barely, sometimes blowing catastrophically), which they often did because almost all of the engines came from the factory with the head bolts under-torqued from improper specifications.

B)The J-engine model would suffer from turbine failure in the turbos, or have a faulty 1-way valve on the head that would cause turbo failure, OR would get oil vapors into the seals on the exhaust side and cause the seals to fail. Lots of issues were corrected with the 2nd-gen J-engine, but I think the valve issue remained.



Have you hooked it to a code reader to see if there's a diagnostic code showing? Most chain auto stores have a reader they can hook up for you for free.