Overheating!?

my 98 intrigue has about 90,000 miles on it, it is a salvage title. the marker on the temp gauge gose a bit over half way when heated. I drive about 15-20 mins at a time in 75 degree avg temp 4 times a day. when the fans kick on they only stay on for about a few mins or less is this normal?( i know this becuase the fans and rad make nose from not being bolted in tightly) i did check under the hood when the fans turned on. the hose to the engine was hot and "FULL" of fluid, i guess the thermostat wasnt open. The rad was hot. how bad is this issue? and what theromstat should i go with 180 or 160?

i decided to do a little test on it...after i drove the car for about 7 mins i parked the car and let it idle with the a/c on. the fans had not come on yet. The air is kinda cool but not COLD..is this normal? after doing this for about 4 mins the temp guage started to rise very slowly and eventually it made it past the half marker then the next min the fans came on. they stayed on again for a short while, and after i watched the left fan stop then the right fan stop them stop i check the temp guage, and it lowered back to the middle...is everything ok??!?

one last thing....since this is a salvage car i think the front end had been redone due to front end damage, there is a two prong connector that is comming out from a bundle of other wrapped wires they are located on the opposite side of the fans behind the radiator..the wire colors are yellow and green/blk stripe. where dose this plug into?

Your fans should come on automatically anytime the AC is engaged.

Do you have the digital climate control or manual controls?

Is there any way you can get pictures of this mystery connector? Pictures of the connector itself, and then the general area of the connector.

The connector with yellow and green w/blk stripe wires plugs into a sensor mounted on the splash guard in front of the condensor/radiator. It is the ambient air temperature sensor.

Link below has picture of sensor.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/297374AX27.jpg

i have digital

I think brian and I are thinking kind of the same thing here with the AC not working.

Let me ask you this laviie, is the temperature shown on the face of your digital climate control accurate? Or is it wrong? If it is wrong, what temperature does it show?