smells like it's over heating..

But the temp Guage reads normal.. thinking it might be my thermostat.. but I have no idea where it is.. and also should I change the water pump to? And or radiator n hoses? Tryna start with the simple stuff first.. Mahalo.

If the gauge is working, trust it! Mazda has reliable gauges in these trucks.
Wash the engine. It's probably crap on the exterior that's heating up and smelling. Or maybe your heater core has a small leak.

Important to purge all the air from the cooling system on these trucks !!!

Appreciate the help..How do I purge the cooling system? I changed out the thermostat today.. n yes my temp Guage is n was working fine from b4.. I noticed that when I look into the radiator, the water wasn't flowing or moving.. could it be the water pump? It's not i er heating tho.. so I'm kinda confused!

Coolant should bypass the radiator until the thermostat opens as it reaches operating temperature.

Yes, even changing the thermostat requires purging air out. Here's what I do: jack up the front of the truck, put on jack stands. Take off radiator cap, start engine and turn on the heat controls, keep adding coolant or water or 50/50 as necessary until no more can be added, level in radiator will drop over the next 15 minutes as air is purged out. So when the air is completely purged, replace cap and you're done. OK, you need to take truck off jack stands.

Also make sure your radiator cap is good.

I doubt that the water pump is bad, just an impeller, rarely corrodes away. These B2000 and B2200 have an internal water pump driven by the timing belt. Some just replace the WP when they do the TB every 60K miles.

Oh ok.. tysm.. sounds easy enough..