2003 Honda CRV EX 4x4 auto
Recently bought this car and have been trying to fix all the issues I find.
Recently I noticed my radiator hoses were not getting hard after the car warmed up. The temp gauge would only go up 1/4 of the way. I believe that's because the previous owner put "radiator stop leak" in the cooling system (because there is white crusty stuff visible when removing the radiator cap) and removed the thermostat. If I let the car sit long enough it warms up but the radiator fans never turn on. I got the coolant up to 245F before I turned the car off to avoid blowing a head-gasket (also turning the heat on full will cool the car). The car does not lose any coolant and I stuck a funnel in the radiator and ran the motor and never got any bubbles so I believe I don't have a head-gasket leak. First thing I did was stick a paper clip in the 2 pin connector that goes to the bottom of the radiator to what I believe is the fan temperature sensor. The fans turned on so then I replaced that sensor with one from autozone. But the fans still do not turn on when the coolant gets over 230F and the temp gauge is at 3/4. I don't want to replace the thermostat yet because then I believe I will get over heating issues. The car doesn't overheat yet but I believe that's dude to the thermostat being stuck open/removed and that its been cold outside lately.
What else could I test that would cause the fans to never turn on but I can force them on with a paper clip in the fan temp sensor.
Also there is a connector next to the fan temp sensor connector that is not plugged into anything but it only has a single pin.
There is no condenser on this car as it was in an collision and the condenser was removed and never replaced. You can see the disconnected lines on the left side.