My 99 Camaro's check gauges light turned on a few times, all of which have only happened while the car is parked for an extended period of time. Recently, it turned on and a few minutes later the entire car started shaking and would not accelerate forward on the gas but could reverse. The temperature gage went all the way up but after turning the car off and turning it back on, the car was able to drive home fine like nothing happened. I am very worried. I do not know much about cars and I hope it's not worst case scenario. I am thinking it's probably the fan or water pump but I don't know how to fix anything myself.

 

Are you using a battery tender when it sits a long time? This could be an electrical issue because of a failing battery or alternator.
Did it start right up or did it crank slow at first? Is this a V-6 or a V-8 car? Have you checked the coolant level?
Could be a lot of different things ,was your fan coming on?

 

Hey, not using a battery tender. It starts up just fine, honestly the car runs normal in all instances except when the temp goes up while the car is sitting for an extended amount of time. After temp gauge goes all the way up and I stop the car and turn it back on to drive home, it literally runs just like normal. It's a V6 and coolant level is good.

 

Is the fan kicking on? Could be a stuck thermostat or fan not coming on or both.
When you say sitting for an extended amount of time do you mean in the garage not being driven or do you mean sitting still with the engine running?
The latter would indicate your fan not running,going down the road you're pushing air through the radiator sitting still you're not without the fan working.

 

second y2k, is it setting while the engine is running or just setting with key off?