A question for the TURBO guru's

Don't know for sure about your Nissan but I assume that the waste gate is operated by boost pressure, hense the diaphram that you can see. What I do know is that on after market turbos it is very difficult to move the waste gate lever.try putting a shifter on the lever and see.I think you would soon know if the waste gate was stuck
regards
Mike

Wayne,
The arm you describe does join to the waste gate. If this were not connected to the diaphragm as you describe, you would be able to move it with your little finger. The diaphragm is normally hokked via a tube to the inlet system. The more pressure, the more it pushes on the wastgate until it opens (at the pressure set by the factory - 9 psi on my 1999 rig). You can shorten this rod (on some models) to increase the turbo pressure (up to about 15 psi which is where the safety dumps blows off and drops the pressure back to about 8 or 9 psi). You will have to be very strong to be able to move the rod if it is still connected to the diaphragm, especially if it is still in place as it is difficult to grip.
If you have a wire coming off the diaphragm, you have an electronically controlled wastegate.
Oh yeh, reving your engine to the point of destruction in your drive way will not produce much turbo pressure so you won't see the rod move. Put it on a dyno under load and then take a look.
The newest turbo fitted these days uses a variable vane turbo where the turbo housing is in "2 halves" and each half is rotated to give varying degrees of boost throughout the rev range (depending on power required ie throttle position Vs engine revs). Old technology but fits the bill to meet tier III emission controls.
Chris.