Rebuilt Cardone Crap

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custodian

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I switched from hydoboost to vacuum boost. I bought a combination master cylinder and booster that was rebuilt by Cardone. CRAP. The master cylinder leaks between the booster and the master cylinder. The vacuum boost is bad.

After I bleed the new brakes, front and back, I checked the brakes and they got hard to push. I then started the motor and when I pushed on the brakes, they went almost to the floor, the engine speed when I pushed on the brakes and the brake light came on.

Any thoughts?
 

Poppy 87

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If the master cylinder leaks between master and booster, the booster is probably compromised. The master is leaking as well. I would return all of the parts. Pedal going to floor is internal seal in master cylinder if there are no external fluid leaks.
 

PrairieDrifter

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Cardone has been dogshit for at least ten years now.
 

Craig 85

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I had an issue recently when replacing the hydro-boost unit in my truck. Luckily it turned out the box was mismarked.

During my research though, I found out that A-1 Cardone is the one that rebuilds almost all of the units for the parts houses. Unless you buy new parts, you may be stuck with A-1 Cardone parts no matter where you go.
 

Grit dog

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Car Done and Dork man. (Dorman)
Parts absolutely suck in recent years unless you can get OE or quality new aftermarket, which seem to be like finding hens teeth.
As much as I’d like to think I’m being old and bitchy about it, the quality is just ******.
As evidenced by 3 hydro pumps on my Dodge truck in about 20k miles, several years ago. 1 high priced OE new pump. Been good for 3x those miles and should go 5x more.
Or 4 alternators in the Tahoe to get a good one last year. Sons alt in his Mustang burned a diode and I refused to get a re-man. Took it to a shop for an actual rebuild....
 

jake wells

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Ac delco parts are pricey but that is what i try to use and standard brand parts are just OK.
House brand brake parts and components are better than any cardone or dorman junk.
A dorman oil cooler set cost my friend his engine in his blazer.
 

ali_c20

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I had no problems with raybestos and ac delco parts brake parts so far. I try to get new parts and not rebuild ones if possible. It's more $ but less worries.
 

Rhett Croley

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I recently was forced to go hydroboost to get the clearance needed to get BBC head covers off because the stock vacuum booster was too close. I knew it's be a problem one day and the wife was looking to buy me something for my birthday so I got the parts. Wish I'd never done it. It stops great but it stopped well with vacuum breaks also, disc front/rear. It really gave me a fit because I'd power bleed the 4 calipers and they would not work. Soft, to the floor feel like you described. Tried different MC, same problem. Ran 3/16" tube to the rear discs per Wilwood, still no brakes. Turned out the linkage was just slightly long and the brake valve was just slightly open at all times so the pump mechanism could not get seal to pump. Spacers between MC and HB solved the problem, 1 set of washers to be specific, not much at all. Still don't like the HBrakes versus vacuums. They have a lot more power but I don't like the hard feel, particularly when you feather them at low rpm. Hopefully I'll get used to it.
 

MikeB

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For sure! A1 Cardone stuff is second rate at best. Rebuilt AC/Delco parts are significantly better, even if it's rebuilt in Mexico. The rebuilt alternator on my old 69 C10 is still working great after nearly 20 years!

If you've got an O'Reilly Auto Parts nearby, whatever brand they sell is backed by a lifetime warranty, so they are certainly worth a try. My 82 C10 has their store brand alternator, power steering pump, and aluminum radiator, all of which have been working fine since 2015. But if one ever fails, I just drive a few miles and get a warranty replacement.

Someone above mentioned brakes, so I'll add that I love Wagner and Raybestos brake parts. My favorite pads are Wagner semi-metallic. They probably wear the rotor more, but unless you put 15K per year n your truck, who cares?
 
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Vbb199

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For sure! A1 Cardone stuff is second rate at best. Rebuilt AC/Delco is significantly better, even if it's rebuilt in Mexico. The rebuilt alternator on my old 69 C10 is still working great after approximately 20 years!

If you've got an O'Reilly Auto Parts nearby, whatever brand they sell is backed by a lifetime warranty, so they are certainly worth a try. My 82 C10 has their store brand alternator, power steering pump, and aluminum radiator, all of which have been working fine since 2015. But if one ever fails, I just drive a few miles and get a warranty replacement.

Someone above mentioned brakes, so I'll add that I love Wagner and Raybestos brake parts. My favorite pads are Wagner semi-metallic. They probably wear the rotor more, but unless you put 15K per year n your truck, who cares?


I stick with oreilly for this reason, easy to get stuff warrantied out
 

Raider L

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Everyone,

Yeah, I've also noticed Cardon has gone down hill here lately. Many years ago when my wife had her '77 Buick century Special 231 V6, that car was a copy of nearly every part on my '74 C10. The only difference was the distributor was on the front of the engine, but it was still like a 350 with the two back cylinders cut off. It took the exact same brakes as my truck, i.e. 10 1/2" disc's in the front, 11" drums in the rear, TH350 trans., same oil filter, same plugs, and a bunch of other stuff. Wonderful car built for speed, fastback, two door, HEI ignition, mine had regular points though. Dead simple to work on, nothing ever went out. The absolute best car we ever owned and I'd love to have that car back. There is so much speed parts for those 231's these days it's not funny. You can pump 400 horses out of that V6 with no machine work, just bolt on's.

ANYWAY, I was using everybody back in those days, Auto Zone, Pep Boys, and a boat load of local parts places. So I go to Auto Zone to get a water pump for it, the first part to go bad in ten years. Go home and put it on, and we were having a particularly cold winter for Louisiana and the temp was 15 degrees. I manage to get the pump on while running in and out of the house to warm up. The next day my wife comes home from work and I'll be damn the pump is leaking from the weep hole like the seal had failed. I take it back, get another one, come home, put it on and that day it was 12 degrees!!

So I ask around about Auto Zone's parts and a guy gives me a copy of a newspaper article about Auto Zone was under indictment for selling counterfeit car parts. The FBI, and Custom's Dept. had busted two warehouses in China that were full of thousands of Ford, Chrysler, Chevy factory parts in factory boxes that looked just like the real thing headed for Auto Zone, but all of them were cheap pieces of junk.
So from that time on I have never bought another part from Auto Zone. I'll buy fluids and stuff like that from them but no parts. These days I buy mostly from O'Reily's, Advance Auto Parts, and a lot off the internet. I have got some of the best parts off the internet, Ebay. You look up in the upper right corner for the seller's i.d. and it shows how many sales they've had and if it's in the thousands they're good. And it'll show the satisfaction in percent, i.e., 98%. They can't afford to sell bad parts. They make tons of dollars off of Ebay if they are a good seller.
 

Snoots

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I recently was forced to go hydroboost to get the clearance needed to get BBC head covers off because the stock vacuum booster was too close. I knew it's be a problem one day and the wife was looking to buy me something for my birthday so I got the parts. Wish I'd never done it. It stops great but it stopped well with vacuum breaks also, disc front/rear. It really gave me a fit because I'd power bleed the 4 calipers and they would not work. Soft, to the floor feel like you described. Tried different MC, same problem. Ran 3/16" tube to the rear discs per Wilwood, still no brakes. Turned out the linkage was just slightly long and the brake valve was just slightly open at all times so the pump mechanism could not get seal to pump. Spacers between MC and HB solved the problem, 1 set of washers to be specific, not much at all. Still don't like the HBrakes versus vacuums. They have a lot more power but I don't like the hard feel, particularly when you feather them at low rpm. Hopefully I'll get used to it.

Not part related but, you do know that you need a different length MC pushrod that's mounted at a different position on the brake pedal for HB don't you?
 

HOTFOOT

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Not part related but, you do know that you need a different length MC pushrod that's mounted at a different position on the brake pedal for HB don't you?
what he said^^^^^^ different pedals
 

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