My daughter's 1997 Honda Accord overheated while sitting in line at a drive through. It was only about a pint low on water and nothing appeared "wrong". After letting it cool and adding water, it has been fine except we have not heard the cooling fans kick on when she turns it off. They run when it is running. Any ideas or suggestions.

One of my cars is a '96 Honda Civic... and I had to have the entire coolinig system replaced in early 2007... so I know a bit about this... having learned it the hard way.

The cooling system in these Honda cars (and the one in your daughter's Accord is basically the same as the one in my Civic) will not withstand an overheating... at least not one that lasts very long; and usually not more than a time or two... if even that. They cool well, but if the cooling system fails and that temperature gauge is allowed to get up into the red for very long, or very often, a series of failures, over time, usually begins. I ignored mine until there was quite literally not one single part of the cooling system... oh... except one sensor, I think... that didn't need to be replaced. It was a nightmare... a $2,400 nightmare, which included removing the engine head and getting it planned.

A weird jump in the temp gauge up into the red while sitting at a stop light or a drive through is, maybe, the first sign. This is not to be trifled with. It could be something as simple as a sensor gone bad, either giving you a false hot reading, or causing a failure of performance of one of the other cooling system components.

I could go through all the things you should check and do, and in the order that you should check and do them...

... but, really, you need to go let a mechanic who understands Hondas take a quick look at it. There's a simple cooling system pressure test he can perform that will tell him a lot. It could be as minor as a sensor or the thermostat; or a slightly more serious cracked radiator tank or clogged-up radiator... maybe a failing water pump... there are many possibilities, nearly all of which a good mechanic will be able to quickly recognize.

The thing that concerns me, in your case, is the change in your daughter's Accord's cooling fan behavior. That's exactly what happened with mine. It was, in fact, the symptom (along with, eventually, more frequent and prolonged overheating) that sent me to the mechanic.

Whatever you do, though, don't ignore it like I did. Because it only happened once, I did what you're doing... basically wrote it off, with only a slight concern. Then it happened again a while later... and little did I know, but that second time did some real internal damage. Six months later I was trying to figure out which credit card had $2,400 available on it. Don't make that mistake.

I agree with the above answer about not ignoring it. I have a 1990 Honda Civic LX & the same thing happened to me. All I needed was the relays for the A/C & the condenser fan & all was good again for me. It actually cost less than $100, but you may need the condenser fan itself. They can test that by hooking power up directly to the fan. If the fan comes on, then you should just need the relays, but if the fan doesn't come on with direct power to it, then you will need a new fan. Good luck!