gnord

Mind you I forgot to mention, changing the locks over should not be a problem. You don't need the central locking, and they will work just fine without wiring!

You could change the engine over, but it would be simpler to fix the forte engine. (If that's all thats wrong with it.) I would replace the locks, with the one's you can get for £35, buy the forte, fix the head gasket (if that's all thats wrong with it!) get it MOT'd and flog it for £300-£400! I have a receipt here for a gasket replacement on a 1.1 Echo (Same difference) which says £350, (two years ago) but it depends on why the gasket blew, and who does the job. (The £350 bill is probaby why the forte is going for £50.) This one blew due to overheating which warped the head, and so a head skim was required, and the price included an oil and coolant change, a new cooling fan sensor, plus cambelt (Getting near to replacement anyway!). That also includes about 4hours of service charge at £35/hour + VAT, and at least a 50% markup on all parts. (eg £30 for a gallon of oil!). So best do it yourself! If you do it yourself, then you are looking at the cost of a top-end gasket kit, probably a gallon of oil, and a bottle of antifreeze. If the head needs skimming you can probably get that done for £50. (You won't know if you need it until you get the head off.) It's probably a good idea to allow yourself a couple of weekends to do it. It can be done in four hours in a well-equipped workshop, but you should allow time for fiddling about. Getting it off without disturbing the liners can be tricky, as you have to make sure the old gasket seal is free so that it can't lift them and break the liner seals. Also, while you have the head off you should take the trouble to de-carbonise the pistons and cylinder head. This will reduce pinking, which can cause progressive damage to the piston ring lands, which will shorten the life of the engine. (Best avoided, unless you fancy a complete engine overhaul soon. You can completely overhaul the engines on these with the minimum of equipment. It's a lot of work, but the engine should run like new after!) When you put it back on setting the tension on the timing belt requires a tool that you may have to make. It's simple enough. The citroen tool will be hard to come by, and a 'universal' tensioning kit will cost near a hundred pounds even on eBay. (You could of course buy one on eBay and then sell it back!) You don't want the timing belt to break or slip off due to incorrect tensioning, otherwise you will be looking at a complete new cylinder head. Good luck!

Read all of this! First determine if there is a genuine overheat problem! If so then you need to fix it, if not check for electrical problems. If you have checked the thermostat, pump, radiator, etc, then you may have an electrical problem with one or more of the engine temperature sensors. I'm not 100% familiar with the particular model, but there are usually at least two of these, and maybe three. Get a haynes manual, (try ebay for a cheap one) which should tell you exactly where they are, and what to do to check them. However, there will be one on the radiator itself. This will decide when to switch on the cooling fan. If the cooling fan is Ok, but not switching on, then there will probably be another sensor on the engine block or even another on the radiator (Check the manual!). If the electrical connections to any of these is dodgy, it may be sending a false temperature reading to the control system which then decides to warn you of a problem. It might also be a faulty sensor. Haynes will tell you how to check this if it is possible to do it yourself, but you will probably need an electrical mutimeter to do this. (Try Maplin for electronic tools.) There may also be another sensor measuring air temperature. That may not be a direct cause, though it could result in the ECU running the engine incorrectly leading to a genuine overheat! Whatever the cause you really should get it fixed, apart fron the danger that if you ignore it, you might get a real coolant leak, and damage the engine, but it might also affect the tuning of the engine, (as the ECU is getting incorrect information)resulting in real overheating, and loss of power. You will probably know if its a genuine overheat when the radiator cap blows, so until you figure it out carry a gallon of water in the boot. Bear in mind that contiually running with hot coolant can blow the hoses or radiator too, so just in case get hold of some self amalgamating tape, which will hold a split hose till you get the car home! Best not to let it get to that state though, even hoses can be expensive, and you still won't have fixed the problem. Also, it is possible that the radiator is sludged up, not likely mind you, just possible. Check the radiator is hot at the bottom as well as the top. If it is sludgy, then the water won't be getting to the bottom and cooling will be inneficient. If it is you can try a radiator flushing fluid, and reverse flush the radiator to try and clear it. Messy, and does not always work but a lot cheaper than a new radiator!