I wasn't 100% sure where to post it, so performance seemed like the best option lol.
I have a 2.2 cavalier, and my its been running hotter than normal lately. At first it would get hot, then cool down after a little bit and my hose leading to the thermostat was cold, so I thought I needed to replace the thermostat. Turns out, the previous owner never had on in there anyways. So I put it in, and it still ran hotter than normal. My fan kicks on, but it takes it longer than it should. Also, when I'm driving with or without the heat on, it gets really hot down by my gas pedal... Weird, I have don't have it set to have the hot air come out at my feet... So the only thing I can really think of doing now is bypassing the heater core, OR water pump replacement. Any suggestions?

Also, I drive like 5 miles to work everyday, and by that time its at half or over half, depending on traffic.

Using more antifreeze than water will add to this or its leaking somewhere and is low. Could be a malfunctioning CTS. Heater cores plug up sometimes. Bad water pump could be leaking if seal is bad.

I usually buy the 50/50 Dexcool and water mix so more antifreeze or water would be hard to do. I just hope everythings working okay. I was so used to seeing the temp sitting 1/3 of the way, now it gets to a half, and after a bit of driving over half. its scary lol

And I'd like to apologize for posting this under performance... I'm blind and did not see the maintenance forum. Thanks for moving it.

I had a 1997 Sunfire and currently have a 2000 Sunfire both with the 2.2 the 97 always ran at the halfway mark and for the last two years the 00 ran at the half way mark which according to my gauge is 90 degrees celsius or 194 degrees fahrenheit until recently when I replaced the water pump and thermostat. It now runs at about 2 or 3 marks above half. To get to the point that is your car is running at a normal temperature I do a 25 mile commute to work and it hits that point on the gauge and then stays stable at that temp. If you think about it that point on the gauge is not much higher than the opening temperature of the thermostat, the reason your car ran so much cooler before was your lack of a thermostat and it wasn't even getting to a normal operating temperature. As far as it getting hot by your foot I can't help you there. Hope you find this helpful.

both of my sunfires run slightly warm...( above half) i believe these cars just run warm..