TRY THIS:
remove the thermostat completely, its only two bolts, put the housing back on, and run the motor till it gets hot, and see if both the upper and lower hoses are about the same temp. if they are, your thermostat is bad.

 

Ok, I'll give that a try tomorrow since it's an easy job anyway.

 

While you've got your thermostat out, throw it on the stove in a pot of water. It should open all the way before the water boils. If it's good, and if your hoses are hot on both top and bottom when you run the car without the thermostat, then you have to ask yourself why it isn't opening when in the car.
Only two reason - mad amount of air in the system (not too likely) or as stated before, your bypass hose is plugged up or not hooked up right.

 

+1 good point. def try boiling it in a pot.

 

Damn, I keep forgetting to mention things, I acutally did that before I put it in. Worked fine opened up before the water started boiling. That's why in my first post I stated it was working properly, but thanks for the advice though, I'm still going to try taking out the thermostat and see what happens though. Here goes a question though, the bypass hose....where is that located at? I figured I'll check it out maybe it got plugged up or something.

 

Depends on your engine, but generally bypass runs from thermo housing up to the head via a nipple on the intake manifold. This cirulates water through the engine when the thermostat is closed, as the suction from the water pipe pulls it down from the head. When the thermo opens, it sucks through the bottom rad hose, running the full course of the cooling system.

 

I see, thanks. I'll probably check this out tomorrow see if there's anything wrong there.

 

put a thermometer in the water when u boil it to see when it opens it should be like 190???? i think that about rite

im with skunk2racing97 on this one i had a dicount auto one and it fucked up the day i got it and then i got a honda one and NEVER had a prob with it

 

bump that for OEM parts!!

 

So with the general consensus being that the t-stat is either bad
or installed improperly, or the wrong one, did you actually remove
the t-stat (2 bolts ) to INSURE a free flow to the radiator?

Inquiring minds want to know.
-----------
Comparing the hose size of the radiator hose versus the
(possibly clogged) bypass hose, The answer is looking
easier to figure out.

I also concur that it is better to replace a cheaper object
t-stat before a more costly object like a radiator.

So what have you found out?-Bob