96 Tacoma cooling problems

Thanks for having me.
My 96 3.4 Tacoma doesnt seem to be circulating coolant. Ihave changed the water pump, timing belt, and the thermostat twice(once before the pump and once with new pump). When the truck is running the top hose and top of the radiator get warm but the bottom hose and bottom half of the radiator seem to stay drastically cooler. The hose i would say stay ambient temp. I had the radiator flushed before i did any of the above repairs. Also the the temp guage in the truck doesnt move weather the truck has been running for 5 minutes or an hour. After running the truck and letting it cool i come back and the top hose is collapsed. While i know this could be cap related i dont see how it would keep coolant from circulating. Really all this is speculation but it has me stumped. Anyone else have this type of issue? Could the cooling flow thru the motor be blocked by grime or deposits?

 

sounds as though you have a blockage in the block.
remove the thermostat and see if anything moves, if not disconnect both hoses and stick the water hose in the thermostat opening and see if water comes out the bottom, if not the block has a complete blockage in it although I have never heard of this happening before. if you are in a cold climate with bad antifreeze mix maybe its iced up buts that's all I can think of that would block the waterflow

 

Did your truck do this prior to changing out the timing belt and water pump?

 

Yes it did. Truth be told that's why I changed the water pump

 

maybe you have a head gasket leak.

 

ok you need to go back to square one with this.

disconnect both rad hoses and pull the thermostat out, stick the water hose in the stat housing hole and water should flow out the bottom hose, if not pull the water pump off then retest sticking the water hose in each hole from the inlet and outlet where the pump mounts. one hole sends water out the top hose and the other sends water out the bottom hose. if water flows then the blockage is in the water pump, if water doesn't flow and you still have a blockage then im sorry to say but you need a new block even though this will be the first time I ever heard of such a thing.

 

Is the thermostat in correctly? Spring side down.