1. 2003 Lexus ES300 200,600 miles Automatic

   I disconnected the negative battery terminal for about 45 minutes to work on some LED strips. No engine bay work. When I hooked the battery back up and let it run for about 30 minutes and it started to overheat up to 234 degrees Coolant temperature according to my scanner. The car was idling this whole time. The cooling fans turn themselves on at about 224, which is normal behavior. Optimum temperature for this car has always been about 219 degrees coolant temp with the gauge at about halfway. I turned the car off to let it cool down for an hour.

2. I started it up again and cruised in the city for 20 minutes with no issue. Temp gauge never went above halfway. Fans never needed to turn themselves on. I parked in idle when I got home and within 5 mins of idle parking it started overheating up to 234 degrees again before I shut the car off. I let it cool down for 5 minutes.
3. I started the car up again and the temp gauge dropped to halfway almost immediately. I turned the AC on for the first time since he battery was disconnected, to see if that does anything and the car stayed steady at about 217-219 degrees for 30 minutes straight.
4. I turned AC off and let it continue to idle and it stayed steady at about 217-219 for 15 minutes. I shut the car off just because I'm exhausted from all this and looking for insight.

There are no leaks, no rough performance, coolant has stayed at full. No cooling issues before battery disconnect. I have not taken it out onto the highway nor drove with the AC on. I do not know if this is a case of the car needing to relearn how to behave as I did not use any sort of memory saver or battery tender while the battery was disconnected.

Thanks for any help!