Have a mate with a couple of Toytas. A 1990 Toyota Corolla............ many simple parts no longer available. A 1996 Town Ace........ universal joints.... no longer available. A quote from Toyota agent to have tailshaft repaired ... a cool $1200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Found a Mazda uni which had bearings 0.5mm bigger in diameter. Skimmed down with ceramic tool to Toyota size and back in action for $25 and a couple of hours in total.

Anyone else having problems getting parts for so called modern technology??

DH

Everything is possible...

yeppas i have a Heater Tap for my 94 Celica that s unavailable in Australia, and they would need to order it in from Japan for $200.. and a wait of 6 weeks, i was worried the tap wouldn't hold out for 6 weeks, luckily found a front cut of a celica and stole a used one with 30,000 on the clock.

There are a few places down here (and im sure their in sydney) but they import the cars in pieces form japan as they get taken off the road, can find a few good bargains (I'm sure you guys already know this tho)..

Most of the time people don't know where to look or sales staff can't be bothered.
I have lost track of how many times shop staff have told me that a part is unavailable anywhere anymore only to have found somewhere else that has a plentiful supply.

Eg: a couple of years ago I picked up a brand new Datsun 180b front bumper from a nissan dealer-only to crash the car a couple of weeks later

Wellllllllllllllllllll ......... maybe for the old Corolla at 20 years but would have expected a uni joint for the 13 y/o Town Ace. But then again, was it designed to be a totally throw away shaft. The bearing caps are pressed in and "stake" locked in position rather than the normal circlip method. Maybe the design team thought that once a car got to over 200,000 km it should be scrapped anyway as the uni joints would normally last past that point.

DH

it depends if it is a decent jap car or not.......

You can pretty much still get parts for all the mazda rotary's.. ...

Its not just confined to japanese cars, it happens in all sorts of manufacturing
I broke the push button for the PTO clutch on one of the Lamborghinis out at the farm yesterday and a few weeks ago dad broke the windscreen wiper blade off on a low branch
so I rang the Lismore dealer to order new ones and it was a case of
computer says no...... *cough*

gotta get one direct from Lamborghini in italy....
its only a 2004 model so its not like its an old tractor

she rang me back with a price today
have a guess what an innocent little push button is worth??

did i hear someone say $147.90 Plus GST? i nearly had a heart attack
oh and $40 for a single wiper blade thats hardly any different to the one on my Lbug

in general there are parts avaliable for everything but of course you have to consider the worth of the car.I've inherited my dads 1950 lea francis super sports nearley everything is avaliable nos.I had a headgasket made locally without asbestos for $220.And of course you need to have a lot of freinds and contacts to bounce things off.Most retailers realise it's to much hard work to try and save a few bucks and thats what they count on.I look at it as a challenge when some one gives me an outragous price to get it cheaper!

Pic required of 1950 lea francis super sports please.

It took me 7 weeks to get a twin outlet waterpump for a 1990 celica. lucky it wasn't all that necessary of a part for the whole 'fundamental' workings, was just irritating having to get off my arse and scrub the windscreen.

Overseas cars in general are simply more expensive. The father was comparing his wheel bearing price with mine. $35 for his commondore or $135 for the sillycar.

2nd hand parts for my bro's 86 celica my 90 are easily obtained now we have all our contacts sussed. there are heaps of low k spares at the wrecking yards at rediculously awesome prices (for the parts). You just get a contact pool of em eventually.

I wonder about the poor people who bought a SEAT, when they were on sale here from 1994-1999. TKM/Inchcape, the then VW importers, introduced them as a sort of cheaper VW (which they are), but they were not a sales success.

While they are mostly VW Golfs mechanically, where would you buy SEAT body and trim panels now?

On the other hand I remember having to go to a VW dealer for parts in London and I was standing behind a bloke that wanted parts for a '32 or '34 Auto Union. The spare parts guy was checking the microfische parts and says "there we are, exactly the same as a 1962 VW. (the previous statement was not exact but went more or less as I said) As for SEATs, when they first came out it was supposed to be the first European car where the engine was made in Germany by Porsche, brakes in some other country etc. etc but all put together in Spain as Spain didn't have a car industry. On the subject of parts though, try getting them for a cabriolet where they are specifically for the roof or trim around the windows. I lie awake at night worrying

daewoo is in the same boat now
alot of part specially for the older models are next to impossible to get for people stupid enough to buy them

I believe that's the only way some car companies make money anymore, they sell their cars cheap but charge through the nose for parts ...if you can get them!

By law they only have to keep parts for models offically sold in Australia for 10yrs. Then they sell them in bulk to a specialist supplier to reduce overheads. If you think cars are bad try buying old electronic control equipment the supecede that really quick.