ongoing lift issue for months. still no lift?

[Inaam Schellen]

hi guys ive been a long time lurker of this forum since i purchased a 2005 corolla sportivo. it's been approximately 2 months since my lift stopped working and i've spent nearly $2000 with still no luck and i'm getting really desperate. i have tried almost everyone suggestion here on this forum and other websites with no luck. would really appreciate if you took the time to read and help me out.

when i purchased the car it was running perfectly. it was on 160k kms and clutch felt good, the car felt very responsive and lift kicked in really hard. fast forward a month later i noticed it was leaking oil. it was a small oil leak and i took it to a mechanic to fix it for me right away. he told me it was a timining case oil leak and he replaced the timing case gasket, rocker cover gasket, crankshaft ceil, manifold gasket and exhaust gasket. also put in a new radiator and water pump. now he also told me he couldnt find a rocker cover gasket as toyota had none available and it would be a minimum 2 week wait to order from overseas. i said that's fine.. but he called me the next day saying he found one and the car was ready. sounded fishy? but whatever, i took my car for a spin and it felt like ****. big flatspot in acceleration under 4k rpm and the lift didnt kick in. sometimes it would but it was really weak. no sort of 'kick', just a smooth transition. 

i read on a separate post to:

- Check Lift bolts. Very common on the preface lift 03/04 models for them to wear down quicker, although the design has since been corrected.

- Check oil level, make sure your engine has enough oil.

- Check the VVTLi solenoid as the filter/screen inside of it can get clogged and cause lift to not engage, see below:

so i replaced lift bolts. no luck.

i did an engine flush and changed the oil. no luck. however i realised the oil level light stays on for about 5 seconds when i turn the car on then it turns off. not sure if that's normal or if i haven't noticed that before?

cleaned out the ocv solenoid screen. it was abit sticky. still no luck.

 

So everything sort of went to **** after i got the car back from fixing the oil leak. would really appreciate some suggestions because it's been 2 months and it's really bugging me and i'm getting really desperate. i've taken it to about 5 mechanics who have absolutely no clue what could be wrong.