I'm having very similar problems on 3.2. When making changes to a pagelayout.tpl file for example, the only way I could get this reflected on the site was to search my ez directory hierarchy for a cache file with a keyword placed I'd previously in the .tpl file. Once I'd located this and deleted it, the change became visible on the site. In this instance, the file was found in ....
\var\{sitedesign}\cache\template-block\8\a\4
What resides in this area I'm not sure or how to navigate the file structure beneath it - I don't know what the "\8\a\4" bit refers to!!
This is causing me serious grief because like you, I can't experiment with template changes. Of course, selecting "Clear Template Cache" in the admin site has no effect at all.
What's making things even worse for me is that I'm not sure whether my override.ini.append changes are having any effect - because I don't trust what I see!!
