its got almost 189K on it and has always ran a little high on temp first thing in the morning, but friday it almost hit the H, I replaced the thermostat the other day and test drove today and it almost got there again. Wondering if my next step is water pump or something else?

 

This is my trip down memory lane from 10-3-2011. " 2002 still getting hot after changing everything"


For a quick test bypass the heater core and see if that's the problem area. It's free and couldn't hurt.

 

I took a heat gun and determined that it doesn't seem like my t-stat is opening, but I tested it before I put it in car in boiling water and it opened. so it seems like its hot enough but lower radiator hose that comes away from t-stat is cold. when I filled it up I had the bleeder valve open until coolant came out of it. just wondering by thermostat wont open when engine seems hot enough

 

Those were some of my symptoms also. My heater core wouldn't allow the t-stat to open either. Yet the heater put out hot air so don't think its fine just because of that. Chevrolet had a brain storm on this design. Use the water from the heater core to open the t-stat. You need full flow from the core to work right. By-pass it and see what it does.