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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2023 3:20 pm 
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Supercharged
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:00 pm
Posts: 2817
Location: kankakee IL
Car Model: 80 volare, 78 fury 2 dr, 85 D150
Does anyone know anything about a company called " pro source"? I can't seem to find anything about them.
I bought a heater core for my Durango ( HC is not the problem, the ac evaporator is) but with 312,xxx miles im not pulling the dash apart an d"not" changing both while it's apart) and I thought I was getting a "4seasons" branded one, and this Chinese POS with the same PN but different brand showed up on my porch.
I definitely don't want to do this job twice. And cringe on China made parts on such a labor intensive job....


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2023 5:25 pm 
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I would not put money on it, but I think you will find 4 seasons heater cores are also made in China.

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2023 11:21 pm 
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volaredon wrote:
Does anyone know anything about a company called " pro source"? I can't seem to find anything about them.
I bought a heater core for my Durango ( HC is not the problem, the ac evaporator is) but with 312,xxx miles im not pulling the dash apart an d"not" changing both while it's apart) and I thought I was getting a "4seasons" branded one, and this Chinese POS with the same PN but different brand showed up on my porch.


Huh; seems to me I've heard this story before.

Oh yeah, that's because I've written this story before.

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2023 3:47 pm 
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Supercharged
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:00 pm
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Location: kankakee IL
Car Model: 80 volare, 78 fury 2 dr, 85 D150
Well today the evaporator came. Supposed to be the same 4 seasons brand, this box totally unbranded, but the "made for n China" sure is obvious on the label.... Damn.
I don't have this thing apart yet but the evaporator they sent me seems at least double, too big..,. It does have the same pn as 4seasons catalog calls for.....I really don't wanna get this thing apart and find out what I have is wring


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2023 11:39 pm 
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You'll have to put in the effort to try to shop higher up the food chain, if there's any higher to go. Chinese origin doesn't necessarily mean a crummy part, and low-quality garbage can be made anywhere in the world. You are fighting against the tide; the aftermarket parts industry figures buyers of parts for old cars (your Durango qualifies) are more sensitive to price than quality. For the most part they're right about that, so that's what they focus on.

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 7:20 am 
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Supercharged
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:00 pm
Posts: 2817
Location: kankakee IL
Car Model: 80 volare, 78 fury 2 dr, 85 D150
Well something bit me in the ass in this job AGAIN that I have had bite me so many times in the past oh, at least 10 years I bought parts advertised as being from a long standing, quality brand. What I received shows nothing of the brand I thought I was getting, and I have no idea in all of this buyout society, whether what I actually got from the big brown truck, is what it is supposed to be or not.
I go out of my way to not buy the first part that will "fill the hole" but to buy parts that were made by companies that I have heard of for most of my life, which started before "made in China" became the issue that it is currently. I don't intentionally buy cheap grade.
But what I DO do, is to look around for the best price on the "same part". If I see a "4seasons" (as that's what I thought I was getting for this job) evaporator and the seller wanting $150 and another seller having the same "4seaaons" evaporator for say, $80, then why wouldn't I save the $70? Especially on the same brand, same part number, same everything.....
But apparently in this case I got baited and switched... What I bought was advertised as one thing and what I received shows no evidence of being made by the company as it was represented to have been......


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:48 am 
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Ebay used to be the epicentre of this kind of bait and switch, with auctions phrased like
"replacement for 4 Seasons 15384"

or

"fits Sealed Power PT-917".

There's still a lot of that there, and it's worse now—they force "sponsored" results on you that don't match your search terms, and they've broken the search function so it's a lot harder to exclude crap you don't want. And the Ferengi disease has also infected Amazon, where it's routine to see a part come up with the part number you searched, and the brand shown as "Genuine Toyota Parts" (or Mazda, Volvo, Chrysler, whatever), but what you don't know is that the brand is not Toyota, but "Genuine Toyota Parts"—a fraudulent use of the carmaker's name.

It's a mess, and it's only getting worse.

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 3:39 pm 
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Supercharged
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:00 pm
Posts: 2817
Location: kankakee IL
Car Model: 80 volare, 78 fury 2 dr, 85 D150
Well this 22 yo, 312k "seasoned" heater core looks perfect in every way. It's stamped "valeo, made in France" of all places. The evaporator definitely needs replaced though. Besides being caked with pollen, grass and 22 years of who knows what else (heater core was very clean) now at a crossroads. Replace this known good (for the moment anyways) heater core that's from a known good brand, and never gave me any trouble " just because om in there" with some unknown, mis represented made in China part or not.... The antifreeze that came out looked just like "fresh out of the bottle". If it weren't such a bastard to access and replace that would make that decision easier.

I see some corrosion on the old evaporator but no ac oil stains. And I forget my black light at work, I specifically wanted to bring home yesterday because I knew what today was gonna be.
The new one im worried about, as the lines were bent outta shape a ways, the original one has its lines about 1" away from the side of the core, this one had its lines that pass thru the firewall bent/ touching the core body. I did "massage " them so that the expansion valve flange if it the slot in the plenum box as they were meant to / but it always scares me to go bending parts like that.
When I last went to charge the ac I saw the freon passing thru the sight glass contained within, but couldn't build any pressure, and any time we turn the HVAC on whether for heat or ac I smell ac oil strongly within the cab. And being the only ac component that I have not replaced at least once on the past 10 years ads those up and that's why I'm doing what I am doing today.


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 3:43 pm 
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Supercharged
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:00 pm
Posts: 2817
Location: kankakee IL
Car Model: 80 volare, 78 fury 2 dr, 85 D150
And yes, the replacements did come from epay, from 2 different sellers, and both had the "hologram" or whatever it is called of the 4 seasons logo a few places within the pic of what I thought I was getting. And yes I see alot of "fits......) Or "equivalent to ", etc and steer clear of those sellers. But neither of these had that and in the item description they both specifically stated they were the brand I expected them to have sent me........


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 4:25 pm 
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I've always :roll: at that holographic-label schtick. Yeah, that'll totally work, you guys, because there's nothing such as holograms in China, and even if you export the parts and try to apply the holograms outside the country, they won't stick to Chinese parts.

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