One Year without cable - $Thousands Better Off!

Get rid of cable, satellite. You don't need it. I watch football, news, movies. I don't miss the big bill!

David

Toyota Corolla 2000 Turn Signals Not Working at all.

2000 Corolla Tough Turn Signal Fix.

My mother-in-laws 2000 Toyota Corolla stopped flashing all it's turn signals. It would work one minute then not the next. The hazards worked intermittently also. Bulbs all good. Electronic Flasher good. Hazard switch good. Turn switch good. 7.5A fuse good. 12V at Flasher. Ground to Flasher good. When you select left or right or hazards, you hear the flasher clicking rapidly but no lights at all. I know, you think it's the bulbs? No!

The electronic flasher is the key to this problem. It is designed to measure the resistance on the line to the bulbs. If the value is below about 1.2ohms (all bulbs good on that side or both side together when hazard selected) If OK it activates it's relay to the bulbs at the normal 1 sec flashing rate you are used to. If the value is ANY higher, it simulates the "bad bulb" condition that the old bi-metal strips showed when the load dropped due to an open bulb, a fast half second flashing.

I measured the value at the bulbs on one side 1.2ohms! But at the flasher (with the hazard switch or the turn switch selecting a side - 9.8Kohms! So where is the problem? The Green/white wire from the center pin of the flasher is supposed to go to both the hazard switch AND the turn switch.

Getting to the hazard switch is 1000 times easier than the turn switch on the stalk of course.
Pulled hazard switch out. (The cover just pulls off with the vents.) ran a wire from the center pin of the flasher (its case separates easily) to the green/white wire on the hazard switch.

It fixed it.

Why didn't I pull out the white plastic panel near the drivers left foot that held the flasher? You try it - the darn thing is held in by the main loom and 10 connectors. I did try, but finally just ran an extra wire, routing it safely away from the drivers legs and pedals.

Goodness knows what the dealer would have wanted for this fix. I don't dare think of it.

Support me for further fixes?

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Our 25 Years of Cable TV is over - We saved more than $100 a month. We are Cord Cutters!

25 Years of Cable is enough – We cut the cord.

My wife & I decided that we had finally had enough of the nearly $200 cable & internet charge every month. We were paying for hundreds of channels we never watched, many in languages we didn’t speak.  The channels we did watch were now available in a much cheaper online format and free over-the-air TV was downright beautiful too.

I called the cable folks to slash the bill. They were expecting my call and had someone whose sole job was to talk me out of it.* Funny! We won’t name the cable TV service but will use the letters TWC instead. 

ME: I want to discontinue my cable TV service.
TWC Please hold. (8 minutes of bad music and clicking...)
 TWC Hello?

ME: I want to discontinue my cable TV service.
TWC: Why?
ME: We just don’t watch it enough and think it is too expensive.
TWC: Can we offer you a better deal? How about $150 a month for a little while?
ME: If you had a better deal, why didn’t you offer it to me all along – We have been with you for over 25 years!
TWC: The good deals are only for new customers.
ME: It’s not so bad, I still want the internet part. How much will that be?
TWC: $80 a month.
ME: That is WAY too much – You advertise internet for $39!
TWC: That’s for new customers.
ME: I am terminally ill - I won't need it soon (a lie out of frustration)

TWC: Your wife will need something to watch to get over her grief?
ME: Good grief.


As you can see, I was getting nowhere. I finally got them to switch it off – They switched EVERYTHING OFF even though I asked to leave the internet. They connected me to another lady who worked out what a terrible job the original guy had done, switched the internet back on (and my emails which they had also terminated) and offered me internet for about $41 which seemed better. When I asked why, I was told "Well you are a NEW customer now...." LOL

I raced to the cable store and dumped all their out-of-date hardware (their new equipment is for new customers) and left smiling with my receipt! GET A RECEIPT!

So now we have 50MB/s internet $41,  $20 of Sling TV  for CNN & ESPN, Netflix $8.99 and Amazon TV (which comes with our PRIME account anyway) and about 70 channels of FREE HD over-the-air TV.

Cable TV WILL change, they will have to. It won’t take the American public long to work this out. Once we have saved about 4 months of cable, I will buy a ChannelMaster DVR that records OTA and streams. The TV guide channels are now FREE if you get the right box.

Do it – Cut your cord! Be a “New” customer again! We are loving our new setup and feel much better about it.

* You may have to tell them you are leaving the country, the planet, or galaxy. The "retention" specialists are only poor folks doing a crap job so it's hard to be mad at them.


UPDATE: A year later - we are happy as clams and $$'s richer! Cut the cord if you can.
 

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