Rubber deteriorates from heat and pressure. Eventually it became too much and it bubbled out at the weakest point. 14 years is a long time in those conditions.

at least you caught it before it ruptured...

"What couldve cause this?"

Being in the engine bay for 14 years. Thats a long time. I suggest replacing every hose under the hood.

Wow glad you caught it before it blew out. I think I'm gonna check mine this weekend now.

another crappy problem, our radiator necks like to break off too... my wife was driving my car and ended up leaving a smoke screen on her way home... now i have an aluminum radiator and samco hoses on the way... just have to wait till i get home to install them, along with a slew of other parts, still stuck in hawaii for the time being though...

at least you caught it before the smoke came. i found that last month my upper hose was inflating under full load and it was cracking at the ends. i went and got the 2 hose set from gates racing on ebay and i doubt i will ever have the problem again. they are nice hoses and are really thick too. check it out i think i paid like 40 shipped.

I have the Gates set in blue. You can see them in my avatar pic. They look good under the hood. Hopefully they're a little more heat resistant to my tubular manifold.

The plies seperate after extended use. You know the bubbles that form on the tire's sidewall when they're old or they been hit? Same exact thing. Plies separating and eventually it'll blow out.

knochgoon24 said:

Rubber deteriorates from heat and pressure. Eventually it became too much and it bubbled out at the weakest point. 14 years is a long time in those conditions.

Click to expand...

+1. Lasted a darn good time before almost going out. OEM parts FTW ! I recently replaced my upper and lower hoses with oem ones so no more worries for another 10 years.

All of the rubber pieces on your car are over ten years old and not to be trusted. Except for the timing belts and crank pulley most of the rubber pieces are cheap to buy and easy to replace.

RRE sells a "Larson hose Kit" with silicone tubes to replace all of the old vacuum lines. For no extra cost you can get a little under hood bling.

The other radiator hose and heater hoses are probably old and cracking, but easy to get to.
Replacing the rubber brake lines at each wheel with stainless lines will give a better brake feel and a warm fuzzy feeling when thinking about how much pressure the old hoses can hold.

While you are replacing the timing belts it would be a good time to replace the crank pulley. They are notorious for failing. Just count the threads on this site about squealing belts.