The memory that helped shaped my understanding of gardening involves going to our aunt's ranch in the fall to clean out her cow corral from all the (blessings) from her cattle. My dad would borrow a company flat bed and we, my brothers and I would shovel (forever it seemed): this 'mostly' dry cow (blessing). Tons of it or so it seemed to my tired 8 year old arms and hands. This is a Saturday and we would do it all day and yeh Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest but noooo we had to get all the 'blessings'off the flatbed and spread out over the 100 x 80 foot garden. This is one of the few times I looked forward to Monday's and going back to school and being able to rest my blistered hands!!! I remember shucking corn and picking and shelling peas for mom but she would always say 'don't eat any so we have enough for everyone for suppper'. Fat chance of that ( I always loved the fresh veggies from the garden but raw peas had to be my favorite:). Reflecting back at 50 now I realize that I knew to garden well was to have to work hard, blister hands and have an achy back and smell like doo-doo. As much as I whined about it I would do it all over again for those fresh tasty veggies that we depended on so much to stretch the food budget for a family of 9. I work smarter now ( I love to use alfalfa that smells good doesn't require a truck load of smelly 'blessings' to help the garden to flourish and still don't wear gloves (need to have the feel of the soil:) but thank my parents everyday for giving me the ethics of the fruits of your labors are well rewarded by nature, even if not by your fellow man who still in my humble opinion doesn't value the farmer and growers of our bountiful harvests as much as the rest of our essential needs or wants as a society. Happy Growing to all and may your garden be ever fruitful and a joy to your soul as it is to mine. David

First off, we need to know about what you got. What year is it and what motor and acessories you have? Since it has 200,000 miles on it, for the following discussion, I am assuming it is an older Jeep Cherokee with the 4.0 Liter 6 cylinder engine. This engine has two fans: A small belt driven one and a larger electric fan. You jeep will overheat in hot weather if the fans do no work. In cooler weather, the electric fan hardly ever turns on geting enough cooling from the small belt driven fan. The belt driven fan has a viscous clutch that is temperature controlled. By default, this fan is fully energized at startup nad if its temperature is low, i will begin to disengage with time. After about 5 minutes, it should be at idle condition if cool, that is, the fan will not be at full speed. This fan turns all the time, but when it is not needed, it runs slow. When needed, the fluid clutch comes into play and the fan comes up to speed. It is quite noisy when at speed. If the small fan is working, at startup it should be full on and making fan noise. A few minutes later, it will quiet down if not needed. If the viscous clutch is not working and this fan is not coming on when things get hot, that may part of the problem. It supplies about 30% of air flow capacity to the radiator. The other 2/3 is supplied by the large electric fan. The large electric fan is supposed to turn on when the coolant get hot. Does it turn on? A temperature switch controls this function. I'd have to check my manuals, but this switch may not directly operate the fan; it may signal the engine controller (computer) and the controller operates fan relay. The relay handles the subtantial current draw of this fan. There are 3 items in this chain of control: the temperature sensor/switch, the engine controller, and the relay. The item most likely to fail is the temperature switch, next is the relay, next is a fuse, and then the fan itself. The final failure parts is the engine controller. The big fan is usually off when traveling at highway speeds except if in extreme desert like temperatrues. The big fan comes in to play in stop and go traffic on hot days. A clogged radiator is possible. According to your post, the problem began while traveling at highway speed. Another possibility is a collasping lower radiator hose. The hose is different in construction to the upper hose. The lower hose must contain features to prevent collaspe. Some hoses have a coiled spring wire in the hose while other contain anti-collaspe construction. The thermostat: If the thermostat failed and closed, overheating follows quickly. You said that a new thermostat did not fix the problem. Two possibilites: the new thermostat was installed backwards. A thermostat installed upside down will not open as quickly as it should. The sensing element should face toward the hot side. Consult your manual. If the new thermostat was installed correctly, then look elsewhere (assuming the new thermostat is a good unit). Was it tested in a pan of hot water to see if it works? How do you know that the water level was ok? Looked at the overflow bottle? The radiator can be short of water with a normal fluid level in the overflow bottle. The coolant system is 'closed' in that it is designed not admit air. Again, I make another assumption that you have a proper radiaro cap in place. it has 2 seals in it. The outer seal fits on the top of the fill neck and seals that opening from the atmosphere. The second seal is on the spring loaded pressure valve. This valve limits system pressure. When the set point pressure is exceeded, coolant forces it way past the valve and flows through a hose to the overflow bottle. After the system cools down, a partial vacuum deveops and coolant is drawn from the overflow bottle back into the radiator. If there is an air leak anywhere between the radiator fill neck and the bottle, air is drawn into the system on cooldown instead of fluid. After a few thermal cycles, the engine coolant system is short of fluid. If the fluid level iin hte bottle si not behaving as expected, inspect the path from the bottle to the radiator for leaks. Old oveflow hoses have been known to develop splits on the underside. A water pump is a possibility. it can fail by eroding the impeller until it is a poor pump. I have been drivng a 6 cylinder 4.0 liter jeep engine since 1993 (on my second one) and have not seen an impeller failure. I'd check these items first: 1. Both fans. 2. Radiator cap. 3. Wind blown trash in and across the radiator core. You did remove that piece of cardboard that was put in there for winter driving? If you have an air conditioner, clean its core of trash also. It sits in front of the main radiator and can block part of the air flow. 4. Lower radiator hose. If the temperature gauge shows overheating but everything seems nornal and an external probe measures normal engine temperature, then suspect the temperature sensor for the gage. You could, of course, take it to a shop. Let us know what you find.

So your dad quit the auto repair industry, and went to school for aerospace engineering? That is what I wanted to do coming out of high school, aerospace engineering. I was on the doorstep to the Naval Academy in a bid to do just that, but fell short of my dream. I ended up becoming a mechanic because it was something I could do and figured I'd work a little while and then work my way through school. Only I never managed to make enough money to put anything aside in order to get to go back to school, got married, kid came along, and here I am in 2006 still working as a tech albeit self-employed. As far as me being "down this road before" when it comes to me attacking predujuices against my feild, you can be assured that I have been. I can't begin to tell you how many times a "customer" looked down their nose at me because I was fixing cars for a living, and their attitude showed right away that they felt for me to be doing this I either had to be dumb, or a crook, or you go ahead and fill in the degrading label as you choose. Many times it made me want to quit fixing cars, and physically throw them and their POS out the door. I'll bet your dad had similar feelings. The one problem though that I see reguarding your dads automotive repair credentials is about how you said he was only in this for two years. Many people try and start their own shop with little or no real experience, or training. That is one of the problems in this industry that has held pricing in this feild well below where it SHOULD be, especially if you compare what I(we) have to do to almost any other SKILLED LABOR field. When you wrote this "Now I figure with the rates higher in the NE...we should EXPECT to pay a higher charge for this service!! It's criminal." You pushed the button that got me on your case. My accountant told me just last month, with the investment that I have to provide the services that I do, and the costs that I am faced with to continue to upgrade tools and equipment to stay up to date, any other equivelent field would be charging over $120/hr with at least a 50% gross profit margin on the parts. That would work out to an average of right about $200/hr Gross Profit. Now that number is a little higher than industry average, first of all because I am one of a very few techs that specializes in engine performance, emission controls, and all vehicle electronics and has experience on just about everything on the street. Plus I have the mechanical experience that allows me to take on virtually anything, bumper to bumper. But one more factor, I also work by myself, which means the entire cost of the operation weighs squarely on the work what I produce. What this all means is that for me to work at full potential I would easily have to outprice all of my "competition" by more than 2 to 1, and anyone then that would compare prices normally would take the stance where you did earlier and use the word "criminal". That's pretty unfair, being called criminal because they don't understand the costs we are incurring to try and provide the best service that we can. Now in trying to keep that reputation from happening, the only thing that I can do is first, underprice, and second I have to choose what I am going to buy and which cars and systems I will no longer work on. Even though physically I have the means, without electronic support (O.E. scan tools) I have to turn ever more cars away. Right now if you by a 2007 Chrysler product, (Plus some 2004's and on up in numbers through 2007) I don't have the equipment that I truly need to function at the same level that the dealer does. Worse than that is I don't see where the $10,000 that I will need to purchase this equipment will come from, especially when I have the same problem to deal with multiplied by each manufacturer. Ten years ago, I had a single scan tool and I could do everything that showed up at my door. The cost for that tool was $3000 and change. That same expense today is over $250,000 for just that kind of equipment. That is an expense that we didn't have ten years ago, and one that virtually every shop out there is not making. Do you want to know just how big a quarter million dollars is compared to my shop? That amount is more than my shops total gross sales for a year. That amount is more than every tool and piece of equipment that I have collected over the last thrity years. Plus even if I hit the lottery and bought this stuff, it's not like buying a house and is equity. It's all depreciating assets. Ten/twelve years later the best expectation I can have is that they may still have occasional use (one or two times a year), and that I will be able to afford whatever their replacements end up being. After that, they are dust collectors, a quarter million dollars worth of garbage can fillers. That's the reality of the field I am in. One where we get no vacations, I'm always spending every available dime on something for the shop. We have nothing saved for retirement, same reason. Well, let me clarify, I have about $3000 in an IRA from a previous employment and we will have social security, plus I could continue to work at some level until...... So yea I take offense when I see a post like yours. But instead of getting angry, and just blowing it off, I take and grab the chance to help people get a better glimpse of exactly what it takes for their corner garage to be there. Now granted we are not all created equal, we have few if any standards (something I would like to change). If your dad retired from aerospace tomorrow, and wanted to open a shop we don't have anything inside this industry to make him prove that he is actually trained and qualified to do so. (That's something else I would like to change but I know it's beyond my abilities) Now, you wanted help with your Jeep. When you figure out what I am actually saying, you will find exactly what help I have provided. Granted it's not what you thought you were looking for, and it may take some time to understand it fully. But it's there. Me? I have to head to the shop today, I have a couple cars that I can knock out, and make more space on the schedule tomorrow for something else. If I was actually priced correctly, I would not have to work seven days a week. But If I was priced correctly for what it costs me for what I actually provide, I'd only ever get the nightmare cars that "no one else can fix". That would put me out of business in a month.

When we were kids we just wore bright colors. They didn't want the parents to be obligated for costumes. I'm talking about in school, not dance class. When I was in Mexico in college and taking dance classes, short skirts were in. That is below the knee but not floor length. And we wore them with plain peasant blouses. No embroidery. Just ribbons on the flounce. I think it was meant as anti-colonial, and to be less quaint. Even though the skirts flirt the same way as the long ones do, they could otherwise have just been stylish skirts of the time. I think I still have mine somewhere. One is turquoise with red and white ribbons and lace. The other is a black and white print with white ribbons. We did really really traditional for one show, and more interesting ones for the other, but it's the traditional ones I remember best. I knew Jesusita En Chihuahua from school but we did the bridge in Mexico. :) And we did the real version of Jarabe Tapatio instead of the one everyone everywhere learns in school. And La Culebra, which is one of my very favorites. And a showpiece to Guadalajara. I don't remember the more intricate, less trite ones though.