01 Accord Overheating

I have a 2001 Honda Accord LX 4-Cyl with 282,000 miles.

Recently it has been having an overheating problem while sitting in traffic or drive-thrus. The cooling fans do not come on by themselves, but will come on if the A/C is turned on.

As far as I am aware there is only one cooling fan switch, which I replaced a couple of weeks ago. When I replaced the cooling fan switch I noticed the old one had a bunch of corrosion on the terminals. After replacing the cooling fan switch it would only turn on both fans when it temperature was higher, and not just the driver side when it should have.

Now neither of the fans turn on, unless the A/C is on.

Is there another sensor or cooling fan switch that I am not aware of and it's location? Is there something else that I am not thinking of?

Radiator is not blocked or leaking, and the coolant level has not changed. This only happens when idling, no problems when driving.

Oil level is normal.

considered the thermostat? i know those go easily and control coolant flow, just a thought. i had the same problem on my v6, later lost compression in half the engine because blown head gasket lol, but i think mine had some bad work done because it only had 105k miles

as previous member mentioned please check the thermostat. Start your car and let it idle until the fan turns on and goes off twice then touch the lower radiator house to see if it is warm. If it is not warm then the thermostat is stuck closed.

Do you have coolant overflow from the coolant reservoir ?

You may have air in the cooling system which push the coolant to the reservoir. Could be a small head gasket leak. If your car idle and gets hot then you are not having coolant in the engine jacket, the fan is not going to bring the engine temperature down by that much if there is no coolant running through the engine jacket.

I don't really see how it can be the thermostat, wouldn't the cooling fans still come on even if the thermostat wasn't working?

I was thinking it might be air in the system, I was going to try and bleed it today with my dad, but for some reason he doesn't think that it's the problem and won't even try. So I guess I will be going at it alone, and let you know if I screw something up.

pretty sure to bleed it you just put the radiator cap on loosely so air can escape and then run the car, someone correct me if im wrong
edit: actually there's a bleed bolt on the thermostat housing, you bleed that while putting coolant in then close it then you start the car with the radiator cap off to bleed it lol

Think I just figured out the problem, the new thermo switch's connector was really loose, so I just replaced it and going to test it out today.