I was on my way to work yesterday, had driven about 20 minutes. Also had let the truck idle for 10 minutes before leaving as it has been very cold here in the southeast US lately. All of a sudden I here a loud pop and the truck started overheating very quickly along with my heat not working. I looked at it when I got home and the lower radiator hose has busted open completely. What might be the cause of this? A crack in the hose? Or something else? What should I do to investigate? Also can someone please link the right hose I need to buy to replace it? Googling shows you a miriad of options and Im not super savvy with auto work. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Idk if it matters but we just recently replaced the power steering pump, the serpentine belt and everything else appears to still be in the right place


Update: Replaced hose and truck was still running hot. Needed a new thermostat.

 

Most likely age is the cause of failure, if its original its 28 years old. I find its probably unlikely to be original but it definitely doesn't look new either.


https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...10068&jsn=1119

 

They're kinda hard to come by but if you can find one with the expansion spring, that's ideal. The aftermarket tries to skip it to save $$

 

Not at all uncommon for the lower hose to split like that with age on the hose.

 

Why is the spring out? And why are the trans cooler lines not hooked up to the radiator?

 

Spring was ejected when hose blew.

Trans lines connected to an external cooler by the looks of it.

 

You are correct.

 

Factory ran it threw both. No big deal just was wondering.

 

When I bought my '96, the previous owner had just put a new transmission in. This is the third one for the truck. It had around 1000 miles on it. He said the transmission shop put the external cooler on because the radiator was full of trash from the second transmission when he tried to power brake and do a burn out with a 4X4 that weighs 5000 pounds or so with a sur-grip rear end. If I ever need to replace the radiator, I may go back factory but it's done okay for several years. Why fix what's not broken.

 

This subject was brought up before, Not sure if it was here though. Have to ask yourself why did the factory install two? That is if you have the second one. Towing package got it. The cooler in the radiator is only a tube between the two fittings, The external one does most of the cooling.