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Hopefully someone can help me out here as I am not very knowledgeable about cars. I have a 1999 Honda Accord V6. It has about 130,000 miles on it. The problem is when I am stopped or sitting idle the car slowly begins to overheat, but when I am driving the temperature gauge stays right where it should be, just below halfway. If I am using the air conditioning then the car starts to overheat faster when I am stopped or idle. Also, sometimes after I turn the car off it still sounds like something is running in the engine. It should almost as if a fan is still on after the engine is turned off. Does anyone have any idea what this might be, or how much it might cost me to fix?

Also, I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it, but the climate I have the car in is much different from where it has previously been. It is consistently 95 degrees plus where I am now, but for the previous life of the car it had been in a much milder climate. If this has nothing to do with it then please disregard, as I said I am not very knowledgeable about this stuff. Thanks in advance.  

when was the last time you changed the timing belt and water pump?????   at 130K... you are at the limit of the original belt.. and water pump...  

when you turn on the a/c the temps will go up...   when stopped.. the a/c condenser has its own electric fan...   the radiator has one also.. it is possible that when the engine is shut off.. that the fans could still be running ...   some cars do this to cool reduce heat soak in the engine compartment...    there is a lot of motor in there and not much room....

does the gauge get into the red area??????   if not... its just running hotter do to the reduced airflow through the radiator and condenser..  

I have no idea about the timing belt and water pump. That could be it I guess. The guage does get into the red area when I am stopped. Sometimes it just sits in the red while other times it gets to the red and then slowly goes back down a bit until I start driving again.  

it's 10 years old...   it might also have a clogged radiator...

time to talk to your mechanic...  a V6 honda is not really a do it your self job...

water pumps are driven by the timing belt...  and go bad...  causing weird overheating..   head gaskets do blow also... damaged from overheating...   radiators do clog...  thermostats go bad...  timing belt tensioner also go bad...

so .. you might if you decide to keep your car...  

as for a price on a

timing belt replacement,
cam and crank shaft seals, they are behind the timing belt...
new water pump,
timing belt tensioner..
thermostat,
2 gallons of coolant..
perhaps a replacement radiator...

these parts are normal wear items and are usually scheduled for replacement every 80K miles or so... sometimes you can get by without the timing belt tensioner and without the crank and cam seals...

there may also be some worn hoses...

it is possible that the head gaskets are failing.. but at 130K miles..   unless you have really driven it hot...

any more honda guys out there..????   with ideas...