The hose comes out of the back of the block behind the water pump, runs under the intake manifold and up the rear of the right hand cylinder head. It has a rubber hose about 4 inches long crimped onto a metal tube about 16 inches long. The rubber end fits on behind the water pump and the metal tube (bent to fit) comes up behind the cylinder head and is secured by two bolts. To answer your third question no! I would replace it with a genuine part.
You can replace it without removing the intake manifold but its a bit of a struggle, you will probably need a new EGR pipe as well if you decide to change it. I have just changed mine and the one on my buddy's. If you need the details I will post them.
Regards
Dereck

Mine sprung a leak. I would advise you replaced this hose for peace of mind as you can only see a small part of it and it will be bad in the places you cannot see. I have done a couple of these hoses lately and you will probably need an EGR pipe and EGR valvle gasket as well as some fresh anti-freeze.

First drain the coolant, drain valve in the bottom left hand corner of the radiator, then unhook the front end accessory belt from the alternator, undo the two lower bolts and one small bolt at the rear of the alternator and lift the alternator forward and rest on top of the water pump (be carefull not to short the wires, you could disconnect the battery but I don't bother) this gains you access to the clip on one end of the hose.

Then remove the vacuum pipe from on top the rear of the intake manifold to the vacuum distribution manifold on the firewall, then remove the heater hose with the TBL switch in it from the intake manifold end and fold to one side, then remove the other heater hose from the pipe we are changing on the rear of the right hand cylinder head.
Then unplug the wires to the Blower speed controller, undo the two small screws securing the speed controller to the heater case and remove.

Then switch off the air suspension and jack up the right hand side of the car and put on stands (with only one side jacked up oil will not come out of the transmission) remove the transmission oil level dip stick, undo the bolt securing the dip stick tube to the transmission and remove the tube (I put a bung in the transmission to stop dirt entering).
Undo the EGR pipe at the right hand exhaust manifold end (some eaze-it oil and work the nut back and forth helps it can be quite tight), disconnect the two hoses from this pipe and the vacuum hose from the EGR valve then undo the two bolts holding the EGR valve to the intake manifold and remove the assembly, you will probably find the EGR tube is cracked and you will need a new gasket.

Next undo the small earth wire from the top bolt securing the heater pipe to the cylinder head (clean this earth when refitting it has to be good or you may get flickering headlights among other faults) then remove the two bolts holding the heater pipe to the cylinder head (the top one is a specialbolt for the earth just removed).

Then pinch the clip together on the end behind the water pump and prise the hose of the spout, and with a bit of jiggery pokery you should now be able to feed this pipe out over the transmission and then pull it out over the engine, this can be a bit of a fiddle but it will come out.

A little tire mounting paste on the end of the hose helps when refitting the new one and I always use a worm drive clip not the spring thing supplied by Ford put the clip on the spout behind the water pump first then push the hose on
In the tradition of all shop manuals just refit in reverse order.
There are a couple of wires to unclip along the way but I think you will see them as you go, also it's a bit easier on a hoist not on your back in the yard.

I dont know how much these parts are in the States but here in the U.K the Heater hose (part number F1AZ-18B402-A) is £45 (about $70) and the EGR pipe (part number F3VY-90477-A) is £70 (about $110).
I replace this hose as a 40,000 mile or 4 year service item because it will always blow miles from anywhere in the middle of the night, it gets quite hot sitting in the V of the block and dosn't seem to last as long as the other hoses.
I hope these details help I dont think I forgot anything if I have let me know
Regards

Dereck

Below is the link to a detailed article with photos from lincolnsonline.com about this coolant line. Click on the link.

Under Intake Heater Hose Replacement