Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

tjc78

I know if I could find the end of that wire I’d be putting two ends on and a coupler to get it back online. There is no way I could be without internet for a week with both of us working from home and two kids.

Of course we could utilize our mobile hotspots but not ideal

henryn

My experiences are several years old, and things may have changed, but I doubt it. The crew that buries the cable is usually contract, and they tend to use a device that looks a lot like a string trimmer, only with a heavier, thicker “string”. It makes a very narrow trench, not very deep at all (4 to 6 inches, as I recall) and they just poke the cable down into the trench and then step on it to close it up.

Back about 11 or 12 years, I had an AT&T DSL line installed. They ran it across my neighbors back yard and left it laying on top of the ground. The neighbor’s dog ate the cable, I jumped the fence and patched the line to work temporarily. The hardest part was making friends with his dog, who was not inclined to be friends. 😊

If you’re dealing with a cable company, you almost certainly have 75-ohm coaxial cable, probably RG6 quad shield. You would need to properly terminate both ends of the cable where it is severed, and then use a female to female connector in between.

explorerx4

The guys that fixed my cable had a ride on trenching machine.
They seemed pretty happy to be using it.

andres3

tjc78 said:

Chips and electronic components have been so reliable and mass produced for years it is doubtful to me that all of a sudden we would have poor production and quality control. Just another thing to make people panic.

Receiver manufacturers didn't get that memo. Many of the manufacturers are notorious for warranty issues, and just out of warranty failures, often with a chip or electronic component in the receiver. The few repair shops that remain keep overly busy, only thwarted by lack of available parts. I have a 30+ pound paper weight Denon as proof; the analog is fine; it's the digital circuits that went kaput!

The Yamaha I just bought (and still testing within the return period) was selected in large part for the long 5 year warranty. Don't trust the 3 year warranty anymore because they have Chryslers "fail at 3.01 years" specifications down pat.

andres3

henryn said:

I just received my renewal notice from Progressive for my next 6 months of car insurance. I switched 6 months ago from USAA, after more than 30 years. I shopped with several different companies, and went with Progressive for the best rate, $729 for 6 months. Now they want $976 for the next 6 months, an increase of 33.8%. I called and they said I received a discount of $101 for the first 6 months only for having signed up online. The rest was just normal increase. Throwing out the $101, the increase was only 17.5%, which doesn't sound too horrible, until you remember that is for 6 months, and makes the annual rate of increase 35%.

Am I going to need to shop for car insurance every 6 months?

That's Progressive's SOP. They sucker people in with a lower rate, then jack it up at the first renewal. I had them for 6 months because of that too.

The CA Dept. of Insurance seems to allow this kind of market manipulation; yet some claim insurance is highly regulated. Not sure what they are regulating but if you vote me in as Insurance Commissioner things would change drastically.

driver100

henryn said:

My experiences are several years old, and things may have changed, but I doubt it. The crew that buries the cable is usually contract, and they tend to use a device that looks a lot like a string trimmer, only with a heavier, thicker “string”. It makes a very narrow trench, not very deep at all (4 to 6 inches, as I recall) and they just poke the cable down into the trench and then step on it to close it up.

Back about 11 or 12 years, I had an AT&T DSL line installed. They ran it across my neighbors back yard and left it laying on top of the ground. The neighbor’s dog ate the cable, I jumped the fence and patched the line to work temporarily. The hardest part was making friends with his dog, who was not inclined to be friends. 😊

If you’re dealing with a cable company, you almost certainly have 75-ohm coaxial cable, probably RG6 quad shield. You would need to properly terminate both ends of the cable where it is severed, and then use a female to female connector in between.

If you lived closer I'd invite you over to do that coupler thing....even give you a beer for the help.

I don't know about splicing cables, and with my luck I'd do something that they will say I have to pay to have it fixed.

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

andres3 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

The NJ shore town we vacation at (and sadly did not buy in 20 years ago!) has same issue with summer rents. It’s a snooty (expensive) town and for decades all the older rental bungalows have been bought up, razed, and replaced with huge private houses. The rental property supply just keeps shrinking. Especially anything normal people can afford. Supply and demand rules.

Every year we think they can’t sell all those 2.5mill new houses, but they do. And they mostly sit empty during the week.

Not sure what insurance they have in case another superstorm clears off the skinny barrier island the town is on. But I’m sure if not enough they will come crying to the government to buy them a new one.

Back in 2009 I was seriously considering getting a condo in Florida as prices had fallen 50%. I think I missed my opportunity.

Did you get in on the Game Stop bonanza? Really cool documentary on it on Netflix right now. They actually managed to take down a major hedge fund or two before the powers that be pulled the plug.

No but I followed that on the news. Good for the Reddit bandits for beating the big boys at their own game. The real villain, I think, was Robinhood which prevented the investors from selling at the best time.

They apparently took away the "buy" button. Buy and/or selling is the free market. Without a Buy button, the only option is to sell, and well, that can only do one 100% predictable thing to the stock price; which it did.

driver100

stickguy said:

We’ve had that done. Different crews always run wire and do connections, then somebody else comes to bury it. Pretty common to see wires across the lawn for a while. Most people are smart enough not to mow it.

I hadn't noticed the wires before and saw them by accident...they have been lying on the ground for about 2 months....I don't think they were going to come back and bury them on their own.

qbrozen

Robinhood isn’t really an isolated case. Although I know there is a difference between a brokerage house and the SEC suspending trading. But, when I was day trading, I would regularly see “freezes” when things were too hot and heavy on a particular stock. I’m told that’s normal for the SEC. Personally, I think that’s absurd. You can’t claim it is a free market and manipulate it at the same time.

explorerx4

Robinhood = Frontrunning

andres3

qbrozen said:

Robinhood isn’t really an isolated case. Although I know there is a difference between a brokerage house and the SEC suspending trading. But, when I was day trading, I would regularly see “freezes” when things were too hot and heavy on a particular stock. I’m told that’s normal for the SEC. Personally, I think that’s absurd. You can’t claim it is a free market and manipulate it at the same time.

A freeze is technically "fair" though as long as everyone had equal and ample advance notification of the freeze and the end of the "freeze" and then equal speed when the freeze was lifted.

Freezing "buy" while allowing "sell" is another matter. The documentary on Netflix had more details, but in summary:

The brokerage house has to borrow money to buy the stock for a short but limited amount of time. Robinhood essentially may have run out of credit with everyone buying like crazy; or so that is their excuse.
I do suspect that if the "powers that be" benefitted from finding extra credit limits quickly, it would have happened in the same scenario far more quickly.

henryn

I’ve always had doubts about the SEC. Recently, after the Madoff scandal, I no longer have doubts, I’m now certain they are a bunch of cretins. It seems that years before the bubble burst, the SEC did an audit of Madoff. As a part of the audit, they asked for the account number where he did all of his trades, and he gave them a made up account number. Because, of course, he didn’t have an account, as there were no trades, it was all just imaginary.

And the SEC did not check the account. At all. Period.

henryn

andres3 said:

tjc78 said:

Chips and electronic components have been so reliable and mass produced for years it is doubtful to me that all of a sudden we would have poor production and quality control. Just another thing to make people panic.

Receiver manufacturers didn't get that memo. Many of the manufacturers are notorious for warranty issues, and just out of warranty failures, often with a chip or electronic component in the receiver. The few repair shops that remain keep overly busy, only thwarted by lack of available parts. I have a 30+ pound paper weight Denon as proof; the analog is fine; it's the digital circuits that went kaput!

The Yamaha I just bought (and still testing within the return period) was selected in large part for the long 5 year warranty. Don't trust the 3 year warranty anymore because they have Chryslers "fail at 3.01 years" specifications down pat.

I have two Onkyo home theater receivers with the bad HDMI circuit board. The first one I bought new, and failed after the warranty. The second one I bought used on Craigslist for cheap, and the HDMI board in it failed after about a year of use. Being a glutton for punishment, I picked up a 3rd one at a thrift shop for about $25, and it's still going strong after 4 or 5 years.

The two units with bad HDMI boards work just fine as stereo receivers, quite powerful actually when only driving 2 channels. But I would never buy anything made by Onkyo again, at least not new at full price. If I needed a new one, I would probably go Yamaha as they seem to be the best value for the money.

qbrozen

andres3 said:

A freeze is technically "fair" though as long as everyone had equal and ample advance notification of the freeze and the end of the "freeze" and then equal speed when the freeze was lifted.

No advance notice. I mean, the whole point, so they say, is to protect against large, drastic, FAST swings. Advance notice defeats the reason for the freeze's existence.

I saw it happen with Gamestop but also AMC. I think there was another but this was too long ago to remember.

abacomike

Had my 2nd Shingles vaccine this morning. Boy - it flung me for a loop! Definitely had side affects from the shot. The 1st shot was fine - no side affects.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

stickguy

both of ours took us out. I think the first was worse, but don't quote me on that!

Michaell

No issues with either of my shingles vaccine

tjc78

@henryn said:
I have two Onkyo home theater receivers with the bad HDMI circuit board. The first one I bought new, and failed after the warranty. The second one I bought used on Craigslist for cheap, and the HDMI board in it failed after about a year of use. Being a glutton for punishment, I picked up a 3rd one at a thrift shop for about $25, and it's still going strong after 4 or 5 years.

The two units with bad HDMI boards work just fine as stereo receivers, quite powerful actually when only driving 2 channels. But I would never buy anything made by Onkyo again, at least not new at full price. If I needed a new one, I would probably go Yamaha as they seem to be the best value for the money.

I’ve had several Yamaha receivers. Love them.

snakeweasel

abacomike said:

Had my 2nd Shingles vaccine this morning. Boy - it flung me for a loop! Definitely had side affects from the shot. The 1st shot was fine - no side affects.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

After the first one I had a light reaction but nothing serious. I'll let you know about the second after I get it.

Sandman6472

Waiting on the shingles shot until the vertigo is fully gone. I've had it 3 times in the past 12 months and the dizziness is just awful. Don't want to add the shingles shot & any side effects to the mix right now. Seems like since 2018, I've had a bunch of health related issues with the sepsis almost taking me out of the game for good! Doctors have told me I'm lucky to still be alive!

explorerx4

@micheall,
You got the placebo. HA HA.

jmonroe1

venture said:

driver100 said:

I won't be on much for a few da

jmonroe1 said:

@driver100 said:

I won't be on much for a few days, our hopeless cable company can't fix our internet/TV cable until Saturday. Next time they call to ask me to use their phone service, I'll tell them what to do with their phone service.

Sorry to the fans...JMonroe will be happy.

I am using a Tim Hortons free wifi for now.

————————————————-

How did you guess? I can’t stop dancing.

jmonroe

I can hear that!
I am at the library using my laptop using their wifi.
Thank goodness for the library. I don't take out books, would rather buy them and not have to think about returning them.
The cable company was suppose to fix our TV and internet on Saturday.
I told them their technician didn't even bury the cable, he just put it on top of the ivy, how long before someone cuts the grass or trims the ivy and cuts through it?
I tried to act like a normal responsible person using logic and not telling them I hope they send me a survey so I can say I give them "0" chance of recommending them to any human being.
They checked google earth or something and said they would send a truck with a bucket....on Friday.
Here is the wire.....real professional!

Is there anything on the other end of that cable? It doesn't look like there is anything on the end that is showing.
———————————————
I think it’s a long skinny snake. Not the snake we know in here but you know what I mean.

jmonroe

roadburner

tjc78 said:

@henryn said:

I have two Onkyo home theater receivers with the bad HDMI circuit board. The first one I bought new, and failed after the warranty. The second one I bought used on Craigslist for cheap, and the HDMI board in it failed after about a year of use. Being a glutton for punishment, I picked up a 3rd one at a thrift shop for about $25, and it's still going strong after 4 or 5 years.

The two units with bad HDMI boards work just fine as stereo receivers, quite powerful actually when only driving 2 channels. But I would never buy anything made by Onkyo again, at least not new at full price. If I needed a new one, I would probably go Yamaha as they seem to be the best value for the money.

I’ve had several Yamaha receivers. Love them.

I have one of the last Denon HT receivers that were still built in Japan- still going strong after 15 years.

tjc78

@roadburner said:
I have one of the last Denon HT receivers that were still built in Japan- still going strong after 15 years.

My Yamaha is around that age too (maybe a touch older). I just can’t retire it yet. I have my eye on one of the newer ones but have other upgrades I want to do first.

This is the one I like.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_022RXA6ABL/Yamaha-AVENTAGE-RX-A6A.html?tp=179

imidazol97

abacomike said:

Had my 2nd Shingles vaccine this morning. Boy - it flung me for a loop! Definitely had side affects from the shot. The 1st shot was fine - no side affects.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

That was my experience. I recall slight tenderness at injecction site for first shot. Minor.

The second shot put me to bed for much of the next day just because I felt like a
low level flu had hit. I took Equate (Walmart) version of Nyquil at half dose for
symptoms, my usual remedy.

I hope your reaction goes away soon. But I recall that second shot as the one
vaccine to which I had a strong reaction.

It's worth it if it prevents my getting shingles at a level of 90%.

kyfdx

Shingles: No issue
COVID: About 24 hours later, it hits me like a brick. I'm useless for a full day.

ab348

Michaell said:

No issues with either of my shingles vaccine

Same here. Maybe some minor lethargy the next day but nothing noteworthy.

snakeweasel

jmonroe1 said:

venture said:

driver100 said:

I won't be on much for a few da

jmonroe1 said:

@driver100 said:

I won't be on much for a few days, our hopeless cable company can't fix our internet/TV cable until Saturday. Next time they call to ask me to use their phone service, I'll tell them what to do with their phone service.

Sorry to the fans...JMonroe will be happy.

I am using a Tim Hortons free wifi for now.

————————————————-

How did you guess? I can’t stop dancing.

jmonroe

I can hear that!
I am at the library using my laptop using their wifi.
Thank goodness for the library. I don't take out books, would rather buy them and not have to think about returning them.
The cable company was suppose to fix our TV and internet on Saturday.
I told them their technician didn't even bury the cable, he just put it on top of the ivy, how long before someone cuts the grass or trims the ivy and cuts through it?
I tried to act like a normal responsible person using logic and not telling them I hope they send me a survey so I can say I give them "0" chance of recommending them to any human being.
They checked google earth or something and said they would send a truck with a bucket....on Friday.
Here is the wire.....real professional!

Is there anything on the other end of that cable? It doesn't look like there is anything on the end that is showing.

———————————————
I think it’s a long skinny snake. Not the snake we know in here but you know what I mean.

jmonroe

Well the snake you know here isn't exactly skinny, but once was that skinny.

snakeweasel

Sandman6472 said:

Waiting on the shingles shot until the vertigo is fully gone. I've had it 3 times in the past 12 months and the dizziness is just awful. Don't want to add the shingles shot & any side effects to the mix right now. Seems like since 2018, I've had a bunch of health related issues with the sepsis almost taking me out of the game for good! Doctors have told me I'm lucky to still be alive!

I would say maybe 10 years ago or so I had vertigo 4 times in a span of less than a year. It wasn't fun at all. However every time I had it it was not as bad as the time before and lasted a shorter amount of time. Haven't had it since.

driver100

ab348 said:

Michaell said:

No issues with either of my shingles vaccine

Same here. Maybe some minor lethargy the next day but nothing noteworthy.

MrsD100 and me I had the same results, 1st shot fine, 2nd made us lethargic the next day. But that vaccine is well worth it!

driver100

In case it's a slow day here this is one letter in todays Wheels section of the newspaper. It is surprising how many people complain about something, and they fly off the handle, don't get results.....but, if they acted like normal reasonable people it often gets results. I was extra nice to the Cable Company supervisor and he got our service call moved up from Saturday to today;
QUESTION

Hi Dennis, does a horn have to be working on a vehicle when it is being sold with a mechanical safety certificate? I purchased a 2014 Dodge Ram and the horn is not working. I had the truck for about two weeks before I was in need of the horn. I almost got into an accident when the horn was needed but it did not work. I went back to the place where I purchased the truck and they told me that the horn was working at the time that they did the safety and they basically told me to rub salt. I went to the Ministry and they told me that if it was working at the time of the sale, they could not do anything for me. Everyone seems to be letting these crooks off the hook for a failed safety. I would appreciate your help with this or are you going to go along with the rest and just fluff me off ?

Dan

ANSWER

A diminutive civility on your part would have gone a long way to get your truck’s horn replaced but it seems that you have not made any friends with your attitude. A car horn only has to be working at the time of the safety and if it quits a couple of weeks after you purchased the vehicle, you have to replace the horn yourself. Had you or your friend conducted yourselves in a more civil manner, I suspect that the used car dealer would have handled the situation differently at that time. Approaching the dealer with a mouthpiece, who pretended that he knew the rules around a mechanical safety, was not in your best interest. Most vehicles have two horns but the dealer has a used horn for you and you can pick it up anytime between nine and five during the week. If your truck has a second horn, you can replace it yourself if you feel the need to. The horn can be replaced very easily with a 13 mm wrench.

PS: Before you do anything else, check to make sure that there is a proper connection between the horns and the power wire to the horns including the grounding of the horns.

jmonroe1

snakeweasel said:

jmonroe1 said:

venture said:

driver100 said:

I won't be on much for a few da

jmonroe1 said:

@driver100 said:

I won't be on much for a few days, our hopeless cable company can't fix our internet/TV cable until Saturday. Next time they call to ask me to use their phone service, I'll tell them what to do with their phone service.

Sorry to the fans...JMonroe will be happy.

I am using a Tim Hortons free wifi for now.

————————————————-

How did you guess? I can’t stop dancing.

jmonroe

I can hear that!
I am at the library using my laptop using their wifi.
Thank goodness for the library. I don't take out books, would rather buy them and not have to think about returning them.
The cable company was suppose to fix our TV and internet on Saturday.
I told them their technician didn't even bury the cable, he just put it on top of the ivy, how long before someone cuts the grass or trims the ivy and cuts through it?
I tried to act like a normal responsible person using logic and not telling them I hope they send me a survey so I can say I give them "0" chance of recommending them to any human being.
They checked google earth or something and said they would send a truck with a bucket....on Friday.
Here is the wire.....real professional!

Is there anything on the other end of that cable? It doesn't look like there is anything on the end that is showing.

———————————————
I think it’s a long skinny snake. Not the snake we know in here but you know what I mean.

jmonroe

Well the snake you know here isn't exactly skinny, but once was that skinny.
————————————————-
Weren’t we all.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

Shingles: No issue
COVID: About 24 hours later, it hits me like a brick. I'm useless for a full day.

————————————————-
Just like in here.

jmonroe

qbrozen

driver100 said:

In case it's a slow day here this is one letter in todays Wheels section of the newspaper. It is surprising how many people complain about something, and they fly off the handle, don't get results.....but, if they acted like normal reasonable people it often gets results. I was extra nice to the Cable Company supervisor and he got our service call moved up from Saturday to today;
QUESTION

Hi Dennis, does a horn have to be working on a vehicle when it is being sold with a mechanical safety certificate? I purchased a 2014 Dodge Ram and the horn is not working. I had the truck for about two weeks before I was in need of the horn. I almost got into an accident when the horn was needed but it did not work. I went back to the place where I purchased the truck and they told me that the horn was working at the time that they did the safety and they basically told me to rub salt. I went to the Ministry and they told me that if it was working at the time of the sale, they could not do anything for me. Everyone seems to be letting these crooks off the hook for a failed safety. I would appreciate your help with this or are you going to go along with the rest and just fluff me off ?

Dan

ANSWER

A diminutive civility on your part would have gone a long way to get your truck’s horn replaced but it seems that you have not made any friends with your attitude. A car horn only has to be working at the time of the safety and if it quits a couple of weeks after you purchased the vehicle, you have to replace the horn yourself. Had you or your friend conducted yourselves in a more civil manner, I suspect that the used car dealer would have handled the situation differently at that time. Approaching the dealer with a mouthpiece, who pretended that he knew the rules around a mechanical safety, was not in your best interest. Most vehicles have two horns but the dealer has a used horn for you and you can pick it up anytime between nine and five during the week. If your truck has a second horn, you can replace it yourself if you feel the need to. The horn can be replaced very easily with a 13 mm wrench.

PS: Before you do anything else, check to make sure that there is a proper connection between the horns and the power wire to the horns including the grounding of the horns.

We're missing part of the story here. The answer speaks of a friend but nothing about it in the question

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

driver100 said:

In case it's a slow day here this is one letter in todays Wheels section of the newspaper. It is surprising how many people complain about something, and they fly off the handle, don't get results.....but, if they acted like normal reasonable people it often gets results. I was extra nice to the Cable Company supervisor and he got our service call moved up from Saturday to today;
QUESTION

Hi Dennis, does a horn have to be working on a vehicle when it is being sold with a mechanical safety certificate? I purchased a 2014 Dodge Ram and the horn is not working. I had the truck for about two weeks before I was in need of the horn. I almost got into an accident when the horn was needed but it did not work. I went back to the place where I purchased the truck and they told me that the horn was working at the time that they did the safety and they basically told me to rub salt. I went to the Ministry and they told me that if it was working at the time of the sale, they could not do anything for me. Everyone seems to be letting these crooks off the hook for a failed safety. I would appreciate your help with this or are you going to go along with the rest and just fluff me off ?

Dan

ANSWER

A diminutive civility on your part would have gone a long way to get your truck’s horn replaced but it seems that you have not made any friends with your attitude. A car horn only has to be working at the time of the safety and if it quits a couple of weeks after you purchased the vehicle, you have to replace the horn yourself. Had you or your friend conducted yourselves in a more civil manner, I suspect that the used car dealer would have handled the situation differently at that time. Approaching the dealer with a mouthpiece, who pretended that he knew the rules around a mechanical safety, was not in your best interest. Most vehicles have two horns but the dealer has a used horn for you and you can pick it up anytime between nine and five during the week. If your truck has a second horn, you can replace it yourself if you feel the need to. The horn can be replaced very easily with a 13 mm wrench.

PS: Before you do anything else, check to make sure that there is a proper connection between the horns and the power wire to the horns including the grounding of the horns.

We're missing part of the story here. The answer speaks of a friend but nothing about it in the question

————————————————
Also, nothing shown about the guys bad attitude.

jmonroe

stickguy

I think the columnist contacts the shop and gets the other side of the story. Probably just not including in that clip.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

In case it's a slow day here this is one letter in todays Wheels section of the newspaper. It is surprising how many people complain about something, and they fly off the handle, don't get results.....but, if they acted like normal reasonable people it often gets results. I was extra nice to the Cable Company supervisor and he got our service call moved up from Saturday to today;
QUESTION

Hi Dennis, does a horn have to be working on a vehicle when it is being sold with a mechanical safety certificate? I purchased a 2014 Dodge Ram and the horn is not working. I had the truck for about two weeks before I was in need of the horn. I almost got into an accident when the horn was needed but it did not work. I went back to the place where I purchased the truck and they told me that the horn was working at the time that they did the safety and they basically told me to rub salt. I went to the Ministry and they told me that if it was working at the time of the sale, they could not do anything for me. Everyone seems to be letting these crooks off the hook for a failed safety. I would appreciate your help with this or are you going to go along with the rest and just fluff me off ?

Dan

ANSWER

A diminutive civility on your part would have gone a long way to get your truck’s horn replaced but it seems that you have not made any friends with your attitude. A car horn only has to be working at the time of the safety and if it quits a couple of weeks after you purchased the vehicle, you have to replace the horn yourself. Had you or your friend conducted yourselves in a more civil manner, I suspect that the used car dealer would have handled the situation differently at that time. Approaching the dealer with a mouthpiece, who pretended that he knew the rules around a mechanical safety, was not in your best interest. Most vehicles have two horns but the dealer has a used horn for you and you can pick it up anytime between nine and five during the week. If your truck has a second horn, you can replace it yourself if you feel the need to. The horn can be replaced very easily with a 13 mm wrench.

PS: Before you do anything else, check to make sure that there is a proper connection between the horns and the power wire to the horns including the grounding of the horns.

Reminds me of my Dodge Omni from back in the day. One day I got a post card from Chrysler that explained that they forgot to put the little horn symbol where the horn was and gave me very detailed instructions on how to operate the horn. This after I had owned the car for almost 5 years . Until then I never noticed the lack of the horn symbol.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

I think the columnist contacts the shop and gets the other side of the story. Probably just not including in that clip.

———————————————
I kinda figured that but Paul Harvey told us “ the rest of the story”. So we are owed that story by the columnist.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

In case it's a slow day here this is one letter in todays Wheels section of the newspaper. It is surprising how many people complain about something, and they fly off the handle, don't get results.....but, if they acted like normal reasonable people it often gets results. I was extra nice to the Cable Company supervisor and he got our service call moved up from Saturday to today;
QUESTION

Hi Dennis, does a horn have to be working on a vehicle when it is being sold with a mechanical safety certificate? I purchased a 2014 Dodge Ram and the horn is not working. I had the truck for about two weeks before I was in need of the horn. I almost got into an accident when the horn was needed but it did not work. I went back to the place where I purchased the truck and they told me that the horn was working at the time that they did the safety and they basically told me to rub salt. I went to the Ministry and they told me that if it was working at the time of the sale, they could not do anything for me. Everyone seems to be letting these crooks off the hook for a failed safety. I would appreciate your help with this or are you going to go along with the rest and just fluff me off ?

Dan

ANSWER

A diminutive civility on your part would have gone a long way to get your truck’s horn replaced but it seems that you have not made any friends with your attitude. A car horn only has to be working at the time of the safety and if it quits a couple of weeks after you purchased the vehicle, you have to replace the horn yourself. Had you or your friend conducted yourselves in a more civil manner, I suspect that the used car dealer would have handled the situation differently at that time. Approaching the dealer with a mouthpiece, who pretended that he knew the rules around a mechanical safety, was not in your best interest. Most vehicles have two horns but the dealer has a used horn for you and you can pick it up anytime between nine and five during the week. If your truck has a second horn, you can replace it yourself if you feel the need to. The horn can be replaced very easily with a 13 mm wrench.

PS: Before you do anything else, check to make sure that there is a proper connection between the horns and the power wire to the horns including the grounding of the horns.

Reminds me of my Dodge Omni from back in the day. One day I got a post card from Chrysler that explained that they forgot to put the little horn symbol where the horn was and gave me very detailed instructions on how to operate the horn. This after I had owned the car for almost 5 years . Until then I never noticed the lack of the horn symbol.

My son’s horn in his 98’ Buick failed which I found was common in those cars. It didn’t stop working but in cold weather would short out and emit a low moan all night wearing out the battery. My mechanic disconnected the wire so the horn didn’t work at all.

When we sold the car I had to knock an extra hundred off the price since in NY the horn is an inspection item.

Also once I was sent to NJ in a car that had no horn. I didn’t give it a thought until a woman in a Subaru cut me off on the Thruway and I had to drive onto the shoulder because I couldn’t warn her.

andres3

tjc78 said:

@roadburner said:

I have one of the last Denon HT receivers that were still built in Japan- still going strong after 15 years.

My Yamaha is around that age too (maybe a touch older). I just can’t retire it yet. I have my eye on one of the newer ones but have other upgrades I want to do first.

This is the one I like.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_022RXA6ABL/Yamaha-AVENTAGE-RX-A6A.html?tp=179

THAT'S THE ONE ! I'm currently testing during my 60 day trial period; been procrastinating on doing the sound equalization magic; that's a must; not fair to compare or rate without doing that step. Got a good deal if that's what they are charging to close out 2022.

roadburner

Had a bit of a tense moment today; the remote for the Club Sport wasn't working- due to a dead battery. I was very disappointed that the battery only lasted 27 years and 149,700 miles, but I had no choice but to replace it. I know it was extremely irresponsible, but I changed the battery without donning safety goggles or having a fire extinguisher nearby.
I'm still trembling a little.

ab348

I hope you registered that battery. God only knows what might happen when you try to use that remote otherwise.

driver100

stickguy said:

I think the columnist contacts the shop and gets the other side of the story. Probably just not including in that clip.

Exactly!

ronsteve

snakeweasel said:

Reminds me of my Dodge Omni from back in the day. One day I got a post card from Chrysler that explained that they forgot to put the little horn symbol where the horn was and gave me very detailed instructions on how to operate the horn. This after I had owned the car for almost 5 years . Until then I never noticed the lack of the horn symbol.

Who was it in those days that moved the horn "button" to the turn signal lever? It wasn't the Omni, was it?

stickguy

Ford did that I think. and had the "squeeze to honk" steering wheel rim.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

Ford did that I think. and had the "squeeze to honk" steering wheel rim.

My mother's two Lincolns in the '70s, had the rubber rim around the inside of the wheel. If it was your car, and you were used to it, it made perfect sense. But, for anyone else, it was a head scratcher.

ronsteve

My memory is suddenly jogged... back in the day we had an 82 Escort, and you pressed the end of the turn signal lever to honk the horn.

snakeweasel

@oldfarmer50 said:
My son’s horn in his 98’ Buick failed which I found was common in those cars. It didn’t stop working but in cold weather would short out and emit a low moan all night wearing out the battery. My mechanic disconnected the wire so the horn didn’t work at all.

When we sold the car I had to knock an extra hundred off the price since in NY the horn is an inspection item.

Also once I was sent to NJ in a car that had no horn. I didn’t give it a thought until a woman in a Subaru cut me off on the Thruway and I had to drive onto the shoulder because I couldn’t warn her.

The selling the car issue jogged my memory of that Omni. The night before I was going to the dealership to trade it in on my new Chevy the horn mysteriously went off and I had to go out and disconnect the horn. It was almost as if it knew it was going away and cried.

houdini1

qbrozen said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Another story about EV fires on the TV today. One of the networks that has been beating the drum for climate change and implying that anyone who isn’t buying one is evil, is now doing stories about all the fires of flooded electric cars in Florida. Suddenly if you own an EV you life is in eminent danger of it exploding in a ball of flames that can’t be put out. They even wax hysterical that EVs left plugged into chargers in garages will burn your house down.

I wish these media types would make up their minds, are electric vehicles the savior of humanity or assassins waiting to immolate you in your sleep?

What EV is that supposed to be? Looks like a Chevy HHR to me.

Can't tell what car that is, but if you look on the right side and squint your eyes a little, it looks like some dude standing there warming his hands. It is just an illusion, but still...

snakeweasel

@ronsteve said:
Who was it in those days that moved the horn "button" to the turn signal lever? It wasn't the Omni, was it?

No, I think it was GM that did that. I do remember my aunts Caddy had that.