Technical A-1 Cordone Parts Junk!!

Folks, I don’t make it a habit of slamming companies, but I feel obligated in this case to alert Old Ford owners of the totally unacceptable part quality I received from A-1 Cordone. I finally realized how foolish I was to not question the proper operation of a Remanufactured 1957 Fomoco Distributor to improve advance management of my 1954 239 V8 after a professional mechanic wasted five hours chasing multiple causes for intermittent spark at the plugs. After reading a thread from another 50’s Ford owner experiencing the same problem with A-1 Cordone parts, we removed the purchased distributor and investigated every aspect of it. We discovered both the condenser AND points to be SO POORLY constructed (China!) that they failed to produce a consistent, strong, controlled electrical signal from the coil. Exchanging this JUNK for original, American Made Points and condenser out of a ‘64 260 engine resulted in the 239 Engine starting instantly and running like a clock. Obviously, there is NO QUALITY CONTROL AT CORDONE! They don’t even know if their parts work! AVOID THEM! Spend your hard-earned money elsewhere with a reputable supplier! This distributor was NEVER TESTED before being sold! It cost me five hours of mechanics time! I could have bought a NOS distributor for the money wasted in discovering that the Cordone unit was JUNK!!

 

It’s Cardone and their stuff has been questionable for years. I used to sell parts and they were the big supplier for reman parts. Especially hydraulic parts were prone bad out of the box. Hopefully you kept the core.

CN

 

Enough of us know all this shit that I don't think a pro mechanic woulda taken 5 hours to discover the junk.

 

It is pretty well known that points and condensers made in China are garbage. Little bit surprised your mechanic took five hours to figure that out. Last several sets of point and condensers I bought from local parts store were junk. Other than NOS, NAPA is one of few places where quality points and condensers can still be found (Echlin).

A lot of other people think Cardone stuff is junk
https://www.google.com/search?q=car...rome..69i57.4151j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

I bought a Cardone 57 replacement 8 yrs ago. I measured all of it according the original 56 to determine if it was correct demsionally. It was correct. It’s condenser failed in 3 months, the one I purchased failed in 4 months so I installed a Pertronix ll and it’s been perfect.

 

Wow! I didn’t know there were so many Indy-car mechanics on this forum! A well known Y- block builder didn’t tell us the distributor was junk when I described the symptoms and what we had done to isolate the problem! I’ll admit I’m not a pro mechanic!
Glad everyone knows about Cordone! Thanks for the replies!! Best!

 

I realized after I posted that I guess now you can be a real mechanic and not know anything about points and condensers. I often forget I'm an old geezer.

 

True.

Also true. Probably very little if any experience with points/condenser ignition. The "professional mechanic" probably also spent quite a bit of time looking at that funny thing on top of the motor with an air cleaner on top and a fuel line going into it.

Carburetors were still on cars for quite a few years after the points and condenser were replaced by electronic ignitions.

 

I’m just teasing you guys a bit! No worries, mates! I forgot to tell you that this ‘54 Ford had sat 13 years in a garage, with only 61K miles. We had to rebuild the generator, fuel pump, carburetor, and clean up the original plug wires . These fixes, in addition to upgrading the distributor for better control of spark advance, presented lots of possible causes for the intermittent spark. We admittedly made a mistake in assuming the distributor was good. Discovering our mechanical foolishness was not only a bit embarrassing, but we were P.O’d that Cordone created the misconception that the distributor should be fine, since it was rebuilt. That was a lesson learned, albeit one that prompted me to alert others to their poor part quality!
Cheers, Guys!!
Bob

 

I used to work at an auto parts store a few years back. I found out that Cardone was junk then. Their so-called "rebuilt" alternators were only used ones that were cleaned up and replaced only the bad parts like the bearing or the diode, the rest was just a used alternator.

 

Shhhh, don't let my kids OT V8 Chevy here this, her distributor has been in the car for a year without issues.-cardone special via Amazon.

 

I appreciate the post. Eyeing RockAuto lately, I had seen one of their options was Cardone parts . You just saved me money and headaches. Never bought a Cardone part . I buy from Napa and I guess there is no reason to switch.

 

I'm a NAPA guy, too. So far Echlin hasn't let me down, maybe I'll go get some more to hoard.

 

not just cardone, N.A.P.A., mail order, auto zone, etc... you NEED to check every new part from every source. I have found the wrong part in the right box, handling damaged correct part, old core in new box, right part that doesn't fit or needs to be fitted, quickly failed part, part breaks when installing, fails visual inspection, etc..
the ratio of "problem" parts to no problem parts is about 6 issues out of 10.

 

This sucks.

It’s happening more and more with my work also, new parts junk out of the box.

tou find the issue, replace the part and the issue is still there!
Especially in your situation where you did a bunch of stuff at the same time.
So now the diagnostic process starts all over again, but assuming the “ good new part” is just that..... GOOD !!

adds time and headaches to all.

sucks you bought junk, but glad you figured it out.

 

I just replaced the leaf spring bushings in my '65 Dart, and the eye bushings came with new bolts and nuts. One of the last things you do on that job is put weight on the springs and tighten up the eye bushings and shackles. Well, the threads on one of those new eye bolts stripped right out at about 45 lb./ft. Sooooo, I dropped the spring, cleaned up the old bolts, and slapped it back together. It's getting pretty sad...55 year old bolts are more reliable than new.

 

I've had poor results even with NAPA parts I got for my Ford, so I stopped going there entirely, but they do have a carb cleaner I like...

 

I caught hell on another thread for writing that nothing from China is made to last. N O S parts at swap meets keep going up in price. It's no wonder.

 

To paraphrase James Evans from Good Times "how can you know where you're going if you don't know where you've been."

A-1 Cardone use to be a good brand, but in the 27 years I've been selling auto parts they're reputation has been going down. Actually it's hard to understand why any auto parts suppliers still deal in our antique stuff. Anymore good used properly rebuilt parts are the best. I like the old Ronny the Raygun's philosophy of trust but verify. That's one reason why I always boil a new thermostat with a thermometer in the water.
-Dave

 

I used to work in an auto parts store when I was kid in the 60's, back when there was a big rack of books rather than a computer. I remember when delco-remy parts came in very cool thick paper boxes with metal tops and bottoms and the container was sealed and it had a string you had to pull to open the box. Such packaging these days would be cost prohibitive. Not that the packaging had anything to do with quality control, or that it was an assurance that the part inside of the box was correct, but it was an indication that the manufacturer cared enough make sure the product was protected and that when you opened the box, you were the first one to open it. Those days of good parts and quality control are long gone!

 

Well I know my Dad had problems finding quality rotors that the usual parts stores carried .

 

Thanks to Everyone for taking time to comment! They support testing of acquired parts for this old Ford in the future before installation.
Oh! My apologies for repeatedly misspelling CARDONE!! I missed the point in one of the early threads! Yeah, I know....now you're thinking I might be half the problem!! There’s always that possibility!!!
I’ll post some photos of this survivor ‘54 Crestline once we get it cleaned up. It’s a time machine! It still has the assembly line markings on the firewall. The interior has always been covered with blankets. We now await Concours Parts restocking of the gas tank specific to this year. Thanks again! Bob

 

Bought car done steering gear for '71 K5, had to take it off and install a second unit...blew fluid all over the place too.....and look how spell check made their name come out. It's obvious even to a computer...

 

If I may address this. I deal with just this issue for an OEM I work for and it's mostly societal change. With the elimination of vocational arts classes in schools for the last 2 generations, the end result is "kids" today don't even have an adult (let alone father figure) who can pass on automotive knowledge and skills. Since there's 2 generations that can't work on NEW cars, that leaves all us old farts working on our dinosaurs. Rebuilders really have no choice but to support us..... there's no other market left (other than wholesale jobbers). Little Billy doesn't know how to diagnose a bad crank sensor (and sadly enough, most of us don't either or don't want to learn).
If it wasn't for YouTube, they'd all be walking......

 

I was just getting ready to tell you that since you have now opened this can of worms, we need to see the '54. Looking forward to seeing some photos!

 

No conversation about garbage aftermarket parts is complete without including Dorman. Hard to believe they haven't been mentioned yet. I try to buy oem parts when I can now but to be honest, even they aren't what they once were.

 

I will never buy rebuilt brake components from BBB industries. they rebuild brake parts for AutoZone. their technical customer support was very disappointing. I still buy from AutoZone but not their rebuilt brake parts. better off keeping your cores and rebuilding them.

 

G'day, I used to work at one of the big box store automotive places. I had so many issues with A1 Cardone power steering parts. I had one customer go through three power steering pumps for the same vehicle. After I switched to an AC Delco dealer I sold him one from there. Seven years later it is still working. A1 Cardones power steering stuff does have questionable quality.

 

I ordered a rebuilt water pump from ebay because I wanted a rebuilt made in USA pump and they sent me a NEW chinese pump. Cardone sucks and their distributor uses points and condenser that have no replacements, Once the points are used up you have to buy another distributor. Does anyone reline brake shoes? I'm ready to put my old shoes in the scrap

 

many years ago, Arrow and Champion also made questionable rebuilt starters, alternators, etc. After going through 4 rebuilt starters in less than a month, the auto parts person said, "why don't you buy a rebuilt Delco starter " I asked how much difference was the cost. He said about $ 5.00. I asked why didn't he sell me that in the first place ? He said, I thought you wanted to save some money. After installing 4 starters out in the driveway in January in the winter in Connecticut I was not a happy camper. The extra $ 5.00, was well worth saving the aggravation.