[mechhound]

Normal thermostat temperature is somewhere around 192*(20* less than boiling) so your top radiator hose will be hot. Your bottom radiator hose will probably be considerably cooler if your fan is running as the coolant cools considerably as it goes through the radiator, but not necessarily cool enough to hold your hand on. Bottom line here, I don't think you have a cooling problem especially when you take into account what the temperature guage reads.

Question No. 2: Some systems will bleed right out and some can be the pits to bleed. I have found a good way to bleed the system is remove a heater hose by the engine, but the heater hoses may be permanently attached(great modern engineering).