Option 2, that's what I believe it to be but I'm not sure. The hose from the water pump to the thermostat was hot, the bottom hose from the radiator to the thermostat wasn't cold but it wasn't as hot as the other hoses. I really it's some blockage or something I'm really running out of ideas. So here's what I experienced with my drive earlier this morning. The drive to the park was normal, once I left the temperature got up to 212°F then it went up to 215.7 and slowly went up there while I was driving at 1500 rpm. As I sped up the temperature climbed to 221° then up to 235° then up to 239°. As I was slowing down at a stop light it went down to 235° then I think it went down to 221° driving at a low RPM then that's when I checked the hoses. They were hard and hot to the touch, the radiator hose wasn't as hot as the other hoses but I didn't squeeze to feel the firmness.

 

@LRD2Dave Ok your best bet would be to get a clean container to catch the coolant, I use a rubbermaid tub that fits under there fairly shallow

Position the tub and pull the lower rad hose
Let all the coolant drain
Pull the upper rad hose
Move your tub
Run water from a garden hose through top to bottom - low volume if there is a blockage it should back up on you. You may have to gradually increase the flow.

 

if your top hose is hot and bottom outlet hose is cold or warm but not hot its thermostat, dont over think this i had this same issue, replace thermostat or get inline

 

Yeah I'll try that, does it make a difference if I bypassed the heater core hoses? I was reading the rave manual last night and it said that the heater core help dissipate some of the heat from the coolant. I only bypassed it because I thought it was leaking but really I had a broken windshield cowl so water got in that way.

 

This would the fifth thermostat I've changed on it so far but yeah ima buy the black one which I believe opens at 180°F. And I really hope that's the issue .

 

Honestly at this point go with the inline mod from Extinct. Then when you install it I would run no t-stat at first to see if you are still overheating. No bypassing the heater core will not result in those types of temps.