I did the hand on the upper hose experiment this morning. I tested at the hose end on the rad tank to reduce the effect of heat conduction to the hose from the head / thermostat housing. The hose remained cold during warm up until the temperature measured at the old D jet sensor hit about 70 C and then the hose and the side tank on the rad started warming up.
It would appear that my thermostat is not stuck open; but, is opening sooner than it should. I am pretty sure that I have the 82 C thermostat and the service manual says that it does not start opening until 81 C. It seems like mine is opening around 71 C. That would seem to jive with my highway temperatures that bottomed out just above 70 C on the dash gauge.
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