Overheating, check engine light, spraying coolant; Help.

Got the car back from the mechanic, 20 miles into it back home the car starts heating up. Got around 240 then I pulled over to turn the car off, and the Radiator overspill unit was spraying coolant and steam. After inspection, and a chemical block check the head gasket wasn't blown. We noticed that the electric fan is having intermittant problems (sometimes working sometimes not) so we think that is the culprit. It was wired by the previous owner to work all the time instead of only working at certain temperatures. The place where the fan is tapped into is getting a strong 12 volts. So I guess my question is, would the fan not working be the cause of all this? He's also thinking it may be a stuck thermostat. Please advise, thanks in advance.

The initial problem with the car was smoking during startup (white) and quite a bit of ticking in the engine (which was later diagnosed as a busted valve guide). When I went to the shop yesterday no smoke and engine was healthy as hell and no more ticking so I was happy.

Car needed quite a few things to get it running how I wanted it.

New Oil pump, oil pan gasket, oil pump screen, new intake gaskets, new belts, couple of new hoses. Car got a valve job because the valvetrain was **** on the drivers site, had a cracked valveguide and a few other problems. The heads were machined, new head gasket. Adjusted valve and ignition timing. New oil, new coolant. Car got a compression test, all checked out fine, and the car has good oil pressure.

When I took it out of the shop the car was running great, I made a few stops in between the shop and the trip to my house. The fan must of took a **** at one of the stops; because it no longer works.

The fan worked fine prior to going in the shop, but the shroud was busted so he put a hayden fan install kit on it to keep it from later busting and falling into the engine. I'm thinking that while putting the install kit on he probably screwed the fan some how; or it was already on it's way out anyway.

He's putting in a new fan and t-stat as we speak, I'll keep you posted and I do appreciate any more feedback.

Thanks guys, what an expensive ****ing habbit.

dupe, sorry.

Welp, the culprit was infact a weak thermostat. Got the car back today and it runs beautifully. Thanks for all the help fellas, I'll post pics tommorrow.