2000 Honda Accord Overheating?

I recently replaced the engine in my 2000 Honda Accord. I sporadically drove it a few times before taking it out of town, and other than a slight burning smell the first few short drives (which the mechanic said was just oil burning off), it overheated and the engine has now shut down. The vehicle has been driven about 600 miles since it was repaired. It shut down in a different city than it was repaired in so we took it to the dealer and they said that it had the following problems:

1) it had an old/worn heater hose which blew out;
2) one of the temperature sensors blew out; and
3) the other temperature sensor is not connected.

Shortly, before the engine overheated and shut down, there was a small amount of fluid that appeared to be leaking from the vehicle, but it didn't appear to be (or smell like) oil or fuel and may have been mistaken (by my son who was driving) as condensation from the a/c. I hope the original mechanic doesn't try to get out of warranting the work and want to be as informed as possible when I talk to them so any thoughts on how this could have happened would be appreciated.

#1. Take the car to a Honda dealer and ask for an inexpensive *cooling system pressure test which will find any external or internal cooling system leaks.

#2. By now, the entire cooling system needs to be drained, flushed and CLEANED with one part powered acid cooling system cleaner to get the corrosion, rust and slime out of the cooling system.

#3. What ever you do stick with genuine Honda Antifreeze.

#4. When you remove the radiator cap when the engine is stone cold it should be filled to the top. The plastic coolant recovery reservoir should be 3/4 filled also. If the radiator is low you definitely have a cooling system leak. *Coolant will not transfer from the reservoir to the radiator when there's a leak!

THE PREVIOUS ENGINE REPLACEMENT:

Probably the mechanic forgot to connect the other temperature sensor.

The remaining sensor blew out (so you didn't get warning that the engine was hot).

The heater hose blew (because the car was old and likely the hose had never been replaced). That caused the hose to overheat.

The mechanic was wrong when he dismissed the hot engine as "oil burning off." The consequences of driving with a hot engine are dire since it could (and, apparently did) destroy your engine. With such dire consequences, the mechanic should have looked at the situation very carefully.

The problem is partly your fault for not replacing a 14 year old rubber hose. All of the hoses should be replaced every 5 years or sooner. It is far cheaper to pay for the hoses (and work of installing them), than to deal with a blown engine.