Honda 2005 Civic EX - still overheating, what do I next?

mas35

This morning after replacing the thermostat, flushing the radiator, replacing the temperature sensor and the engine light sensor, the car started to over heat again. I was running at 60 mph, no place to really stop so I turned on the heater, this helped a bit and when traffic slowed, the temp decreased to normal. But as I continued on city streets, the temp climbed up and then decreased until right before I stopped it was on H. I noticed that during the last 20 minutes, the heater had stopped working, air coming into car was cool and that there was a brief odor of cooking oil not unpleasant, but not like antifreeze either. After I parked, I checked the hood of my car and usually the hood feels hot after driving, well not this time, it was cool to the touch and over the engine area, jut a bit warm. I was expecting HOT, maybe steam, smoke, leaks - nothing. I should have checked the radiator fluids but I did not want to open the hood. The car runs great - smooth no indication of anything wrong except the bad running H indicator.

I am not sure what to do next, my work buddies say check radiator fan, radiator fluid, thermoswitch, and any other fans, check vents, heater coil. engine gasket, (water in gas or oil), water pump. Would there be any order of things to check?

Thank you for listening.