If the rest of your downstairs rads work, it is not your pump...
The engineer sounds as though he knows what he is talking about... My advice, turn both the valves off, drain the rad and remove it from the wall... With a bucket, open up each valve allowing the water to be captured into the bucket - This will prove that your pipes are clear... If water comes out both valves, it's your rad, otherwise you will need to look into changing your rad-valves/clearing a blocked pipe (V.Expensive).
If it is your rad and you are on a tight budget, take the rad outside, open up a man-hole cover and attatch a hose to one end of the rad... Turn the hose on full and kick the rear of the radiator with steel toe-capped footwear (Or dense rubber mallet) and this will help flush out the sludge build up in the rad itself... Routinely swap ends and repeat this process until water starts running relatively cleanly and freely from the other end of the radiator.
- PS... If you can't take the rad off the wall due to your level of experience, you will normally pay more for flushing a rad than replacing one!
GasAid.co.uk
December 2006