hey so my friends brother has an 86 camaro v8 and i guess the thing will overheat right at startup. My friend wants to buy his brothers car and have me fix it cuz he calls me the "car guy" I've never seen the thing or seen inside a 86 camaro engine bay never even ridden in one but i do know how these forums work I'm a honda accord guy and I've taken advantage of the accord forum very well but anyways if anyone can start suggesting what to look for right away from most common to most rare problem that will be tons of help thanks!

 

There's absolutely no way an engine could be overheating right at a cold startup. Check the gauge or sending unit for accuracy.
Does the engine feel steaming hot, or is he just going by what the gauge says?

 

Camaro69 is defidently right, but are you talking about after the car has been warmed up; then you start it again it overheats. cause mine does the same thing, not really sure what causes it; maybe because the thermostat doesn't open that fast???? just a guess. i need help to

 

a motors temperature will spike right after you shut it off. after all the coolant is no longer flowing. it should come right down after you start it though. the thermostat dosnt know if the motor is running or not and if the coolant temp is up it will stay open.

 

well my friend said he used to be able to drive it about maybe 10-15 miles before it would overheat and then he would shut it off come back to it later and drive the the other 10-15 miles and it would overheat when he'd be home again. but now it just overheats a short while after he starts it up to move it around his driveway.

 

Does he have any coolant left? There might be a leak and he's running without coolant. Sounds simple and dumb but it's worth a check.

 

like i said i still haven't looked at this car but i guess theres coolant in it and yeah dude i asked that right away thats the first thing i asked actually lol

 

by the way where will i find the sending unit and how should i test it?

 

The temp sending unit should be in the side of the drivers side head, between #1 and #3 spark plug. Usually the way to test it is by replacing it, as long as you know other things aren't the cause. That's why I asked if the engine feels like it's cooking hot, your gauge might be right. The first thing I would check/replace is the thermostat, as it's possible that it's stuck closed, as already mentioned above.
Btw, if there wasn't any coolant in the engine, your issues would be different, and with a worse outcome. The probe on the sending unit reads water temperature, not air temperature, so it needs to be touching coolant for it to read the temperature. Without coolant in the block, you wouldn't be getting a hot reading until it was too late.

 

good call. i suppose the car would've blown up by now