Tips for removing Coolant Temp Sensor

Hey guys, I'm going to replace my coolant temp sensor on my n14 sr20de but I cannot find a way to get that U/ D clip off the connector. The reason I'm replacing the sensor is because I think it's bad but am unsure, I recently changed the water pump in the vehicle( let me know if you want a how to for that) and the fans worked fine before. I can turn the fans on by jumping the relay connectors with a wire and also turn them on through the consult cable which goes through the ECU and relay so they're fine. Through consult I monitored the temps and the fans are supposed to kick in around 82 to 88 C and the thermostat opens at 90 but nothing happens and I even took the risk and let it go to 98 C to see what would happen and nothing. The dash gauge says it's not even overheating and sits at the middle and barely moves unless cold. When I was bleeding the coolant I made sure to undo the thermostat bleed screw but that's all I know of so I'm assuming that's fine, there are no fault codes or anything but I read that the fans should kick on if something is wrong such as a faulty coolant sensor but nothing again. Hope someone could help me as it would be much appreciated, thanks. Corey