Water pump Gates or GMB

Sounds like your water pump is shot. The impeller is spinning on the shaft and not pushing the water. I just had a customer who had this problem. The crazy thing is, I just replaced the pump about 2 years/30K ago with a GMB pump. He had the exact same symptoms as you: car gets hot, but does not overheat, no water through the return line, and fan takes a long time before it turns on.

Don't use Gates water pumps.

But do NOT use gates water pumps, they are junk.

A gates timing belt kit for a Honda will have OE parts as Gates is a OE supplier for Honda. Except for the water pump./ Gates water pump are garbage so NEVER use a gates water pump if its driven by the timing belt.

Gates is not a decent brand when it comes to most water pumps. Their belts are great, but their pumps I do not use for most cars.

From my experience I have never had good luck with the metal impeller ones. The impellers won't break but the weight is too heavy for the shaft and the shaft ends up breaking and just free spinning. I've used 2-3 metal ones before (I am almost positive at least one of them was a gates brand) and they have all failed within 30k or less miles.