The fans come on automatically if you let it idle and I turned them on with the A/C to be sure that worked, too. It will idle for 30 minutes without going too hot, but 5 miles from home at 60 mph it will start going up. This was after I had let it idle for quite a while, not driven on the road from cold.
The break between the cylinder and water jacket makes the most sense to me. I'll pull the plugs next and I'll bet I see something.
It is a head gasket. What you are describing is exactly what my brothers forester did.
You could try one of those block sealant's I have heard mixed reviews. We use to use them to "fix" Rotary motors with pretty good success. I have never tried it in a piston engine. I am in the midst of a HG change in my Mustang. I feel your pain.
Re your son working on the car. It is never to soon to start learning. If nothing else the one thing I hammered in to the heads of my daughters is that if the temp is high or the oil pressure is low STOP DRIVING IT. A tow is always cheaper than the damage caused by driving it home. I gave them AAA so they had no excuse not to park it.
If you don't make this a slightly painful learning experience for him he will never learn (how I taught my daughters). My daughter drove home a car that was over heating after I told here not to. She had to be with me every minute I worked on the car to fix it. Cold, rain I did not care. If I was out there she dam well was going to be. If she was not in the mood or complained I stopped working and she had no car. I only had to do this once with each daughter.
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=BK_7001006_0361073538
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