Re: Used Wastegates

[John Karasaki <johkar@teleport.com>]

At 08:10 AM 9/4/96 -0400, you wrote:
>Yo, Orin and John....  since it would only take the small pocket trigger
>pressure/vacuum bleeder to ck the WG in the car, I find it hard to believe,
>Orin, that you didn't take it with you to ck the unit at the yard....  I say
>do it again, bring the guage, test, then buy....  Bet you could get a break
>from the yard too, by teaching them how/which units they have to give
>away.....  I still propose that there are plenty of WG out there, finding one
>that doesn't leak should be pretty easy....
>
>Scott

Scott,

I've been wrestling with this problem for 6 months now.  All the yards I've
contacted in Oregon, California, Washington, and Utah (except for AVS that
wanted $$ for the complete wastegate) wouldn't sell the wastegate without
the engine.  One Utah yard had a wastegate they wanted to sell me for $125,
but wouldn't let me disassemble it to do a visual inspection.  I didn't have
a vacuum gage with me to pressure test it, and they didn't want to do it either.

It seems there is a huge difference in used parts availability and cost
between the West Coast and the rest of the continent.  BTW, Audi whole car
prices seem higher here as well.  e.g.  that 4kq that Bob bought for $1400
would sell for double that here in Portland.  Maybe it's because cars don't
rust out here.  Maybe there's quite a difference between 100k NW miles and
100k miles on a car that is from a "Winter Salt Friendly State."

I haven't checked with the big Audi yards out your way; maybe I should.
Regards,

John Karasaki

The Karasaki's, proud owners of AUDI automobiles

1981 Coupe - Not many parts left.
1982 TQC
1984 5000S Wagon - For Sale -- Cheap!
1987 5000CS TQW
1990 V8