Cardone, Cardon't.

[nthach]

I replaced a timing belt for another friend and I noticed his power steering pump was leaking fluid which also ruined the timing belt cover seals. I didn't have time to do the seal and I need to order them from Subaru anyway, so I decided to attack the pump. O'Reilly had the pump cheaper but I went with the local parts house as they were all Cardone pumps or so I figured. I bolt in the Cardone reman and I fire the car up to a spray of ATF which was my fault for not tightening the pressure fitting! So I fixed that, started up the car and I noticed the steering was notchy. I check on the pump and I noticed the pump pulley was wobbly and it was about to come off the shaft!

I call the parts house, they offer a refund and I inspect the pump. It was a press-fit pulley but I noticed some galling on the shaft and I was able to take it off by hand. The shaft was wobbly too. I pick up a pump from O'Reilly that was either a new one from China or remaned there. It appeared to be much nicer and when it was on, the pulley stayed put.

My preference is to reseal the pump, but Subaru didn't stock a reseal kit and this car didn't use a Showa-made pump in which I can use parts from Honda to service it. Looks like I need to be leery of anything Cardone now.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: nthach
Looks like I need to be leery of anything Cardone now.
Cardone has always been iffy. i recently used one of there smog pumps on a corvette(they were the only company that offered this part). car ran a week and its pressed on pulley fell off.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: nthach
Looks like I need to be leery of anything Cardone now.
Cardone has always been iffy. i recently used one of there smog pumps on a corvette(they were the only company that offered this part). car ran a week and its pressed on pulley fell off.


I had 2 of their window motors fail. I decided to get a used one from a junkyard instead.

 

[NHGUY]

They have a habit of rebuilding cores that shouldn't be.Like units that have been reburbed 2 or 3 times.I have seen holes corroded thru the casting in water pumps and they put some sort of epoxy over them that was poorly applied and fell off.Thankfully it hadn't been installed yet.

 

[NormanBuntz]

I grew up in the Philadelphia area, where Cardone had a major presence in the 1960's and 1970's, especially with its rebuilt carbs, fuel pumps and brake shoes. The company had it's first plant in North Philadelphia on Clearfield Street, I think. Cardone created a lot of jobs in that location and in Northeast Philly at a new, larger plant. But between family in fighting, bad management and poor quality control, they began cranking out plenty of defective remanufactured parts.

For my buck, I'd use parts other than Cardone.

 

[wirelessF]

Cardone's junk, had two reman pumps on my truck, one sounded like my truck had a supercharger (was fun at stoplights lol) and the other one had weak assist (took that one apart and found out the pump cam housing was scored to [censored], how did they let that through?) I cleaned up and resealed a junkyard unit (saginaw pump reseal kits are common) and no issues since.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: wirelessF
I cleaned up and resealed a junkyard unit (saginaw pump reseal kits are common) and no issues since.


That's what I'll do with all my power steering pumps - reseal them. I did that on a few cars and mine is due for a reseal soon - it was a OEM Lexus unit installed by the dealer, and Toyota still stocks a seal kit for them.

 

[Wolf359]

Got a Cardone master cylinder once, the connector didn't fit their electrical socket. Figured it was probably the wrong part or defective and got another Cardone part, same problem, got a different brand at Napa and it was fine.

 

[The Critic]

Over on iATN, we call them "car-be-done."

 

[Kira]

I think selecting any part from NAPA is smart to do. They're not the only honest trader in the business but I've always felt I've gotten a good shake at any NAPA store. Kira

 

[bullwinkle]

Originally Posted By: Kira
I think selecting any part from NAPA is smart to do. They're not the only honest trader in the business but I've always felt I've gotten a good shake at any NAPA store. Kira
Unfortunately, Cardone is also a major NAPA reman supplier! I do have an AAP here that I work with well, between online codes & knowing the manager, it usually works out OK.

 

[Merkava_4]

That's why I don't buy parts locally anymore unless it's from NAPA. If I can wait a couple of days, I go with RockAuto; they have the good stuff at 1/2 the price of O'Reilly's junk.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Originally Posted By: Kira
I think selecting any part from NAPA is smart to do. They're not the only honest trader in the business but I've always felt I've gotten a good shake at any NAPA store. Kira
Unfortunately, Cardone is also a major NAPA reman supplier! I do have an AAP here that I work with well, between online codes & knowing the manager, it usually works out OK.


Yeah, that Cardone part was at AAP. They were good about refunding me the purchase price even though I had bought it a while ago.

 

[edwardh1]

Originally Posted By: Kira
I think selecting any part from NAPA is smart to do. They're not the only honest trader in the business but I've always felt I've gotten a good shake at any NAPA store. Kira



napa coils on my nissan trip the check engine light.
chinese

 

[xshoex]

Ive somehow had good luck with AZ valucraft pumps had one on my miata for over a year and one on my jeep now both cost $23 and year warranty. Ive really had good luck with everything except radiators currently on an aap toughguard though

 

[ET16]

You'd think that with all the returns someone would get the message. They can't make much money on a return; neither can the retail store.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: Kira
I think selecting any part from NAPA is smart to do. They're not the only honest trader in the business but I've always felt I've gotten a good shake at any NAPA store. Kira

And I thought I was doing OK by going to the local parts house who is an Federated Auto Parts affiliate! I do like Napa, but it's out of the way.

I had much more worse experiences at AutoZone, O'Reilly is really the only big parts store I go to.

 

[artificialist]

I haven't had a single repair that lasted when I used a Cardone part.