My car has not been started in 8-10 weeks due to our weather. It is in an unheated garage and I have noticed that one of my heater hoses and my PCV hose has sweat on them. I have noticed the one heater hose doing this over the last couple of Winters but now I noticed the PCV valve hose now doing it too. Is this typical moisture from the Winter weather outside?
Ref: The PCV hose is new and the heater hose is at least 8 years old.
Is it weird that only one of the two heater hoses does this (small one)?

Thanks

Usually the sweating is caused by a surface that is colder than the air around it. If the air has a lot of moisture in it, cold surfaces will cause the humid air to condense on them. Like your toilet tank with cold water, sweating after taking a shower. Not sure why only one heater hose is sweating other than maybe it has more antifreeze than the other. Not sure about your PVC valve other than it getting cold air from inside your engine. You should but a lot of cardboard under your car and in the engine compartment to help absorb the moisture in the air. And or have a fan, box fan moving the air around. Put it in front of your grill to keep moisture from condensating on and under your car and engine compartment.

Mine was "oily" too. On my PCV hose, it was leaking down onto my valve cover and I thought that oil was leaking from the cover. Once I figured it out, I was surprised how oily it was when I wiped it off.
It wasn't the moisture that bothered me it was the "oily" substance that had me thinking.

Thank you both for the responses.

Guys, that isn't water. I bet you put some kind of "Armor All" product on it. I learned this the hard way, you can't do that as it pulls "something" out of the hose. This will go on only for a couple of years and that hose will get really soft and mushy, on its way to failure. This happens mainly in the cold, and I'm in Minnesota and it will have this liquid at -20. Don't put dressing on the hoses, its a differnt kind of rubber from tires.

Ha - I have a red rubber air hose in my shop that does that in the winter time. Get's all sticky, gooey on the outside just sitting there unused. In the summer it's dry as a bone. And no, I haven't put Armor All on it.

Darn, your right! I have a air hose like that too. I thought it was the armor all?? What the heck is up with that?

no armourall in my whole shop. so none on my hoses. its just condensation. wierd

I have this on my upper hose on a car stored well below freezing right now....so if its condensation, its not water condensation, eh?

i know. it has to be some weird stuff. feels oily to me. but it dried up completely once i drove the car and got it hot. i havent a cllue what it is. but im not worried about it anymore since all you guys see it too

Sport:
The heater hoses do have a coating on them but only one hose has this wet stuff on it. They are made by two different suppliers. My PCV valve does not have any coating but it still has the wet stuff?
I wonder if it is the type of rubber used. I am getting ready to replace the two heater hoses due to the age/condition of them. My new 5/8" heater hose is made by Gates (NAPA) and I still need to buy the 1/2" hose (NAPA was out of stock).

Normal happens all the time In this fricken weather everything looks wet and is due to condensation

Paul, I do agree but I found something interesting.
I have a bunch of different sizes & styles of rubbber hose hanging on the garage wall about 5 feet away from the Challenger.
Tonight, I was looking at the rubber hose that I used on the PVC line (that was sweating) and then looked over at my wall to find the longer piece that I cut it from. Out of all the pieces (apx 20 or so) hanging on the wall, two pieces have the sweat (including the piece used on the PCV hose)and the rest do not. Both pieces are "heater hose" and they were both drenched with sweat. All of the other styles were dry as a bone. It appears that the type of rubber might have had something to do with the sweat.

My new gates heater hoses sweat and all my theory is that the antifreeze is leaching through the hose and the water evaporates out, leaving just pure antifreeze and since antifreeze is so similar to sugar its sticky. But that doesn't really apply for your PCV valve.

Well, my car is drained, and its not water that condenses as a week or so ago it was -15 and it was weeping then. I really thought it had to do with tire dressing in the past, and quit doing that. It has something to do with the cold as my shop with no one working in it is kept at 45 and there is no weeping on those cars. What ever it is I don't believe its good as I have had to replace hoses maybe every 4 years or so, but daily drivers, no matter how cold, don't seem to do this....and they never get coated-weep. Don't know whats happening.

My PCV hose is a Gates Y200 3/8" "heater hose" and it is sweating. I think that the oily fumes in the pcv line is attacking that 3/8" heater hose. I am going to replace that line but I am not sure of what type of rubber yet. Maybe fuel line.

I just bought the Gates 5/8" and 1/2" heater hose this week to replace the existing heater hoses. I will get these swapped out this week and start this car this weekend and then watch the hoses next week as out temps will be heading back down. The existing lines are old.

UPDATE:
I just called my local NAPA store and they said not to use the heater hose for the oil vapors. They said that rubber fuel line will be fine for the oil vapors.
This makes me wonder if I am losing any vacuum thru the PCV valve-heater hose.
I am picking up some 3/8" fuel line tonight.

Final Update:
I changed the 3/8" PCV (heater hose) hose to the 3/8" fuel line. When I pulled it off, my hands were covered with oil. The entire length of the hose had a film of oil on it. Lesson learned.

I changed out both the 1/2" and the 5/8" heater hoses. The one that was sweating was very soft. I could have tied it into a bow/knot it was so soft. I am assuming the age/condition was the cause. The other hose had some scaling (rubber deteriating) and it was probably going to be leaking soon.
I will start the car this weekend and then watch the new hoses next week as the weather cools down.
The only hose left that was sweating was the radiator overflow hose (the one that goes from the cap down to the frame). It is a soft rubber with exterior ribs running down the length of the hose. It is very soft as well and it did not show the material written on the hose. I will replace this one next with heater hose.

Thanks to all,