Overheating--weird chunks in radiator hose?

So my girlfriend's 96 Cavalier has been overheating for the last few weeks. Refilling it with coolant seemed to be the solution for a while, but now it's gotten particuarly worse. Pulling over to the side of the road tonight to let it cool down, I peeked in the hood. I squeezed the radiator hoses, and the lower one seemed to have what almost felt like small chunks of ice in it. It was just past the clamp, but defintely not a part of the sleeve. I'm under the impression that a lack of flow to the radiator in that area is causing the car to overheat, but I certainly could be mistaken. Has anyone encountered anything like this before, and/or are there any other suggestions for me? She's really upset about all this, and I just want to make it right. :uhoh:

You were probably feeling the reinforcing spring that is in it. Or at least when I looked in mine this last weekend, there was a metal coil, presumably to preventing collapsing due to vacuum. Are you sure that isn't what you felt?

No, that could certainly be what it was. I just didn't expect to feel anything but hose, ya know?

All right, well some more info I forgot to provide:
We had the heat on full blast to help the issue, and the temperature fluxuated a lot. Sometimes the air would be warm, other times rather cold. Would this signify a pump failure?

It would be very unusual for a water pump to just fail. It's a very simplistic design and it would mean that either the impleller somehow came lose on the pressed-on shaft, the drive belt fell off, or the fins wore down. Only the middle one is likely to ever happen. When a pump fails, usually it's because a seal or bearing gives way.

The couple of things I'd check for would be air bubbles in the line or thermostat issues. Since you say that you need to fill up the coolant on a frequent basis, I'd start with the air bubbles. If an air bubble gets stuck in the heater core, no hot coolant would circulate. This would prevent the air from heating up.

First though I'd try to figure out where the coolant is going. It's a sealed system, so you shouldn't lose ANY coolant, let alone enough that you have to fill it up frequently.

i dont even need to read what you posted just remove your radiator and take it in to be cleaned out your problem will be solved and if there;'s anouther problem with the radiator then they will tell you fastest and easiest way to fix your problem

You should not just take your radiator in, I'd take your whole car in to have the whole cooling system flushed. It would cost like $40-$60 in the long run and be worth it. Also if you want to do it yourself you can, but check your thermostat. It may be fouled out in some way causing the vehicle to overheat. If you have not had the coolant changed at all in the vehicle, then there very well could be rust or calcium deposits that will block water flow. If you need some more advice just post up here and I will help as I can.