Cris,
     It is easy to check the thermostat.   Pull and
put it into boiling water and it should open.   Make
sure that it is not in backwards???  Not even sure you
can do that?  What was the year again?
I take it that the fan never kicks on as well since it
appears that you are not getting coolant up to the
front.
    The thing about the heater is it bypasses the
thermostat I think.   On a cool day I can drop my
temperature from normal operating temperature with
both heaters or by coasting down a big long hill.
Keep in mind that the waterpump is a bit lazy at idle
so what is important is what does when the motor is at
a higher rpm and on a hill or load.   My gauge moves
all over the map with the fan kicking on after about
20 minutes at idle.   The other thing I noticed is
that the viscosity of the coolant makes more of a drag
on the circulation than water so 50:50 on the
antifreeze .    If you are in a warm place I would
consider more water if you have a problem with the
50:50.  Do you still have your old radiator?

        gary
Date:    Mon, 6 Feb 2006 13:09:41 EST
From:    JordanVw@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: running hot....any ideas? UPDATE

ok, well i swapped my whole instrument cluster.  and
the needle still
reads
over the red dot. sooo...its not the gauge in the
dash.

i started the van, let idle for like 15 mins..   main
coolant tank and
lines
out of tank were hot.   but hoses at front "firewall"
were not hot.
hoses
coming out of bottom of rad were not hot.

heater blows hot air.   running the heater didnt seem
to have any
effect on
the temperature gauge..

my guess is thermostat...?

chris

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