One of my employees has a 1983 Accord, with about as many miles as you would expect. It has recently begun overheating. I am not familiar with these vehicles in particular and wonder if y'all would have any suggestions on what to investigate first. I have not looked at it at all.

 

my dad says change radiator, and clean out lines and replace fluids, that will get that out of the way...

 

Check coolant levels, leaks, etc. See if and when fan is turning on. May be a bad thermostat.

 

Thermastat, fan, or leak. Check em.

 

my friend had to replace his water pump and radiator at 160k in a civic. It runs nice and cool now.

First I would top off the fluid. You can use distilled water for that. Once you have it full run the engine with the radiator cap off. Rev it up to a descent rpm and look inside the radiator. If the water is swooshing around or even spewing out then your pump is working. At that point I would say its an old radiator.

Does it overheat quickly or graduately?

 

do it in steps :
1. check for leaks (this means looking under neath as well)
2. if no leaks then flush the system till clean
3. if there is leaks fix em and still flush the system

if those steps do not remedy the problem then either three things went bad radiatior, thermostat, or water pump
4. i would suggest start with the thermostat if you replace that and still over heats go to next part radiator and then if that does not work go to the water pump

if you do have to replace any of these parts i would suggest replacing hoses at the same time (might as well

 

...You're my only hope.
^^^^What they said.

 

oh yeah i forgot the fan check that to but i doubt that broke .... and um the cars already old classic(20 years or older) should dump it and get a new one

 

I wouldn't replace anything until you find out why it's overheating. Guessing isn't the way to fix anything. I would check the coolant, fluids. Run the car until it gets hot, when it starts to overheat check things like the fan, leaks, tstat opening (both hoses should be hot if open). Etc... I wouldn't go replacing rad, or flushing things out or whatever until you know what's causing a problem.

 

werd on that one...