ill cut a long story short, 1.6 fun engine boiling over, fan not coming on but works if i bridge the fan wires that go in to the n/s side of the radiator halfway down(is this the switch or the thermostat?)

 

if i was to cut and bridge those wires mentioned earlier to keep the fan on at all times and remove the fuse when stationary, would this cause any problems? 

 

the correct part will be ordered and fitted asap but need to use it this weekend.

 

 

 

Check that the thermostat in the engine is not opening correctly to allow the water back to the rad to cool down. The fan is only going to cut in when the radiator temperature reaches a certain point. 

Yeah what he said, it's probably a dodgy thermostat, the radiator fan switch is mounted in the radiator so it will only work when the radiator is hot, if the thermostat is not opening the coolant will only flow around the engine and heater and will not flow round the radiator.

temp gauge is going right up to max and all pipes are all hot, plenty of hot air coming from heaters too.  previously the temp gauge stayed at around the 1/4 mark.

And the bottom radiator hose is hot yes?

teflon tom you replied whilst i was mid text but seeing as your both saying that i will look at it in the morning.

Could also be the water pump not pumping the water around.

Turns out the head gasket is blown, ugh. Dropping it off to my local friendly mechanic this week and will let him sort it.

I'd check out the thermostat and housing, the housing breaks up in a similar way to the 1.3, on the 1.3 it usually causes overcooling and on the 1.6 it usually restricts the flow and causes overheating. Most likely the reason the head gasket has now failed. 

The pin on the thermostat punches through the housing, so as the pin moves it doesn't have anything to constrain it, which means that even though it's working the thermostat doesn't open.