When you went from no thermostat to putting a new one in, was there coolant in the intake manifold right below the water neck flange?

 

no .. there was no water that i could see

 

do you have oil in the car?
try dumping coolant into your intake manifold and see if your car lasts any longer than 2 minutes. if it doesn't then you probably aren't getting coolant to your motor.

 

Hmmmm, that's what I was suspecting, coolant isn't getting in there. Remove your water neck, and continue to fill the radiator. "Water seeks it's own level", which means the level that's in the radiator is the level that would be in the block. By filling the radiator, you'll be able to get the coolant to rise high enough for it to run out the opening of the intake manifold. If it doesn't, you've got a blockage somewhere. I'm thinking maybe you thought you had the system filled all the way, but it really wasn't.

 

ok so i got the engine full finally ... and not it heats up much slower but it is still over heating. yes i do have oil. Could the new thermostat just be bad so its not kicking on... the coolant in the radiator isnt even hot when the engine is at 220ish

 

Ok good, better anyway. Did you check the level in the radiator again after running the engine? When you do an initial fill of the cooling system, you can leave the radiator cap off and keep topping it up as it goes down. Obviously, don't remove the cap if the system is already hot. Otherwise, yeah, the radiator should be hot if the engine is at 220. Can your gauge be trusted?

 

This is sounding kinda like an air lock. It's pretty common if your heater core return is connected to the water pump instead of the radiator. But, if you're reading heat and the radiator is cold, then you obviously have no flow, you did put the stat in right, correct? no insult intended, but, I've seen guys do it.

 

ok sorry to keep everyone in the dark. i was on vacation for a couple days. today i got home and pulled the stat again and ran it. The car ran fine without overheating. i drove pretty far and did not overheat. so my best guess is i just got unlucky and got a bad stat.