Can we get some more clarification/discussion on the oil level? I would be shocked if the design of the oil system didn't have excess capacity built in. It is hard for me to believe 1 qt out of 10 would impact lubrication. The oil might not last as long but one qt low starting to stave parts of oil....? I could be wrong and will be shocked.
At the moment my oil is at the top cold but drops a few ticks after running. Having excess oil I assume is bad also.:dance:

So what do we think caused the failure. It looks like parts were starved for oil and they got real hot. Was it a defective part issue? Lubrication issue caused by some piece of debris floating around in the engine?

What would of been the best course of action once the high oil consumption was observed, break down the engine?

Oil consumption came from a degradation of the cylinder walls which was very clear post-mortem. Thats nothing new, I have seen these engines lose their cylinders at 27K miles.

The rest of the failure was so shocking that I can't make any conclusive statements about what happened. It was so destroyed over so many different spectrums of the failure that it would be a pure guess to know which mode of failure started first.

The rod bearings were hurt much worse than the mains and that does tell me something.

Jake, in your opinion is this problem a cylinder wall quality problem or lubricant issue?

Ouch! The pics are pretty revealing. Sorry for your loss Jhandy and good luck with your new ride.

In my non-professional opinion just looking at the parts I would guess this motor got really hot at some point in it's life causing the shellacked oil deposits, cracked head and rapid excessive wear to the motor. Running these things with superheated oil is almost like running them with no oil. After the overheat problem the car probably started burning oil regularly and it was only a matter of time before she died. I am sure Jake or someone with more knowledge can fill in the blanks.

Even a Toyota will die if you get it hot enough.