1998 4runner, its winter here, -48c today. I've been noticing last few weeks that there has been a mixture of oil and moisture build up in my intake lately. Before it was a creamy substance, now its mostly just water. It has gotten so bad that the J pipe silencer has filled up with water to the top, the air box itself has 1 cm of water and gets drained slowly by the pre-existing holes on the bottom of the box. Even my air filter has become soaked and turned brown on the bottom.
Now I know its not from splashing through puddles, because the average temps here have been -30 and colder. I figure its moisture, but how the hell could it be that much? Any help? I think I'm getting worse mpg from it as well as an unknown amount of water is being sucked up. Also I have removed the elbow from the intake that goes into the fender, could this have contributed to the insane amount of water in my intake? It's cold, so sucking up warmer engine air would create condensation? I don't know..

Note: its not just water alone, theres slight oily/light brown substance within the water.

I just took out my pcv and checked it, cleaned it and put it back in, ill repost in 3 days with pics.

 

Check your oil cap, see if there is anything under it. When was the last time that you changed the oil? Now would be a good time to do it again and check the oil that comes out for water or other contaminants.

 

I'm due for an oil change, I think its been around 5000km's since the last one. Using castrol gtx 5w30 and a cheap fram filter... could the oil be the problem? I checked under the cap, it slightly has a white-ish brown-ish foam on it.

 

Sounds like you have water in the oil, could just be from unusually wet conditions, bed HG or excessive blow by. Change the oil first and see what happens. Might try a seafoam/MMO treatment as well.

 

well if its -30c to -50c and i park outside, would that cause enough condensation during engine warm up to make that? I'm definitely changing it today.

 

It is possible, it is hard to know. I would change the oil and see what happens with that first. Start simple. A seafoam/MMO treatment sure would not hurt as well.