2.0l 16v runs, but overheats

[treed2@u.washington.edu (T. Reed)]

Got the motor started up today after some initial frustration from
installing the distributor in the wrong set of bolt holes..

I let it idle in the garage for 20 minutes or so to burn off the chemicals
on the exhaust manifold (smoked like crazy!!) and I kept an eye on the
temperature gauge. No more than 60 seconds after it reached normal
operating temperature, the temp gauge shot up way above the LED and the
coolant bottle cap relief valve blew off dumping coolant everywhere..

I noticed that the radiator fan had not come on so I suspected electrical
gremlins. Decided to get it out of my friend's garage anyway so I let
it cool off, filled up with water and drove it home without issue. Oh,
baby!! The 2.0 16v has way more torque than the 1.8!! *drool*

Against my better judgement I drove the car about a half hour later to go
on a beer run and it was all kinds of fun but I noticed it was heating up
a lot again.. when I returned from the store I popped the hood to check on
it and coolant was spraying from the hose that plugs in to the bottom of
the front of the head coolant flange. I think it goes to the oil cooler..

Anyway, can't tell if it's busted or just leaking around the clamp
(in all likelyhood it has a hole in it..) but it sucks because I can't
drive my car..

I wonder what's going on? I don't think its the fan wiring anymore
because I didn't mess with any of that, just dis- then re-connected it
during the swap.. I -did- pull the a/c a week or two before the swap but
didn't have any overheating problems after that.

One thing I did notice is that while I used to be able to turn the hvac
lever to max a/c and the radiator fan would come on when the fan switch
was at 1, 2, 3 or 4.. now the rad fan only comes on when it's on 1. It
doesn't on 2, 3 or 4. What the hell? I don't really see how this is
possible from the electrical diagrams..

That aside.. the radiator and the upper rad hose are hot to the touch, but
not scalding hot. I'm wondering if the thermostat is stuck closed or
part-way closed. It's a brand new german 70 C thermostat that I installed
during the swap (along with the water pump.. the "new" one is used off
of a 16v jetta but appeared to be in good shape). Is it possible for a
thermostat to be bad when it's brand new?

I think Patrick Bureau said that he put his thermostat in backwards and it
caused some sort of problem.. but I put the new one in with the same
orientation as the one I took out.. so that seems unlikely.

I never had any cooling/overheating problems at all before swapping in the
2.0 shortblock.

Any advice would be appreciated..

Thanks,

-Toby