Automotive Air Conditioning Information Forum

Paid $14 at a Ford dealer, and that was wholesale, for one of these cores https://www.ackits.com/product-categori ... core-22833 that sell for $2. The Ford package says made in USA so I assume the $2 ones are from China, but are they just as good?

I don't think you can assume anything related to AC is made in the USA.
You can blame Nixon, he is the one that opened up China, which had been a closed country.

And our experience has been no matter the core, they all leak. Gotta have the plastic caps.
I had an event here last summer and had about 10 cars in the driveway. We popped the hood on all of them, various makes/models/years.
We then removed all the plastic caps and I dug out my electronic sniffer. 19 of the 20 valve cores leaked.
The design is crap, and the caps should be brass like in the R12 days. If you look in the archives, Nick complained bitterly about them, and I am not far behind.

tbirdtbird wrote: ↑Fri May 20, 2022 10:17 am I don't think you can assume anything related to AC is made in the USA.

I don't if it doesn't say it is, but the Ford part does say it's made in the USA, while the $2 ones in that link don't mention where they are from so I assume China at that price.

To some, Usa is a city in China.
They are allowed to say USA made if even only a tiny portion of it is USA made. So if the O-ring is from the USA, they can still say made in USA.
Like you, I try to source EVERYTHING from the USA but it is getting harder and harder.
And I have seen some Ford parts that were trash

Santech has been in the gasket-O-ring business for a long time. People complain when the price is high & low anymore.