well, we seem to have fixed it. it's operating higher than it used to before the overheating, but staying just about halfway up the normal operating range of the gage. haven't driven it hard yet, just got it stablized with some easy driving near the house in case it wasn't fixed. so I think it's good.

when I was describing it before, as it was over heating, it would heat faster in slow or stop and go traffic, but would heat slower (but continuously) when up to some speed.