obviously it needs to be replaced... but I don't know which hose to grab from pepboys...

Its a heater hose, just tell the parts counter guy.

Oriellys will have it in stock. That is a molded hose, it goes from 3/4" at the T-stat housing to 5/8" at the heater control valve.

You might as well replace all of them while your at it, they look kinda rough.

yeah I went and got two 3' sections of 5/8" heater hose. I didn't bother getting the molded stuff since they only had the lower in molded and it was $10 (I paid $1 a foot for the straight stuff)...

should work I think.

Does anyone think that stretching a 5/8" tube onto a 3/4" barb is wise? I honestly didn't see your post xjtrailrider... but thanks for the heads up.
I can still return the tubing I bought... so I figured I'd ask now before I go and ruin my tubing.

UPDATE: I came up with a pretty neat (at least I think so) solution for $5, I'll post pics in a few hours.