Where is my oil going?

My 4 runner keeps running out of oil, according to the dipstick. There is no smoke when I drive , and there is no puddle of oil under the car. The mechanic cleaned the engine three times and drove it 50 miles trying to find a leak and there was a little bit around the valve cover gasket so they replaced that two weeks ago. Today I checked, and the dipstick shows no oil.

Any ideas? Thanks much.

BTW, how long should the dipstick be? The one I have is 18 1/4 inches from the tip to the black bumper right underneath the handle.

 

Is it not the oem dipstick?

 

The part number is 15301-65010. Just drained the oil and there was 4.5 quarts in it, yet the dipstick previously showed absolutely nothing. Put 5 quarts in and now it shows full. I’d much rather have a dipstick problem than a disappearing oil problem. So strange.

 

They replaced the valve cover gaskets but didn’t do the grommets that come with the kit. They did that to me and even charged me twice..lol

 

Starting to sound like a dipstick problem. You should look into ordering a new one, but also verify that the one you are using is being fully seated. Your dipstick should still read an oil level when almost 2 qts low, if not at least 1.5 qts.