i just did a timing belt kit and thermostat on my car this weekend
and ive verified w/ otter since he's the one that helped me do all that but im still just curious

when the car is at normal operarting temp does anyone else's lower radiator hose stay cold when the upper hose is hot?

i still the messed up fan controller so the fan is on at all times, and we assumed i get somehow super cooling and that why its cold...otter says his is cool as well...but it freaks me out that my hose is COLD, specially since im in michigan and its staring to get very cold here..
we assumed its normal and im just curious(paranoid maybe)...ive already burped the cooling system repeatedly and extensively..there ARE no bubbles...(probably left it to burp for about 2 hours)

 

Michigan, November, fan running at all times. No wonder your return hose is cold.

As long as the upper hose gets warm/hot, and the gauge reads around the middle of the range, it's nothing to be immediately concerned with.

 

thats what me and otter figured but maybe im just a bit paranoid since when we did the timing belt n all that we had a bad thermostat w/out a jiggle valve and the water pump blow off ended up blowing off and spewing coolant everywhere...so we had to remove everything again and reistall the old water pump and go buy a new thermostat w/ the jiggle valve

(luckily i accidentally ordered 2 water pump gaskets when i got all the parts...)