Having had similar problems as described on my 1.4K, i.e. running hot, bottom hose cold and difficulty bleeding the system I changed the thermostat, took it out and drilled a 3mm hole, changed the expansion bottle cap, fitted the bleed T piece, massaged hoses and had a "sniff test" that indicated that the head gasket was OK. We also poked the little ball valve next to the inlet manifold and water flowed OK.
Eventually we noticed a weep just below the inlet manifold, not easy to spot as the coolant was evaporating quickly on the warm engine. Set about changing the inlet manifold gasket (green thing) and it became obvious that the ball valve was not working correctly as it was sat in gunge. Gave the area a good clean fitted the new gasket, also replaced all the hoses with silicone ones from the bulk buy. Filled the system and bled simply via the T piece and everything has been spot on since.