would you buy a used scavenge pump?
 

thinking about putting a 987 scavenge pump on my engine. new ones are $500+, but used ones are much less. anything can go wrong with these?

There`s a new one for quite cheap on ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Porsche-911-Boxster-Oil-Pump-Pierburg-997-107-021-03/151994738376?hash=item236397a6c8:g:3Z4AAOSwsXFZJ~K T:rk:4:pf:1&frcectupt=true

I`m thinking of buying one too, because mine chewed up some pieces from the chain guide pad and it has some slight damage. Other than that I don`t think these can go wrong. What happened to yours?

i'm in the process of putting a 996 engine in my car. this means rotating the intake 180 degrees to fit. once rotated the brake booster connection on the intake is in the wrong place and a hose extension has to be fabricated. on the 987 cars they use a scavenge pump that also has a vacuum pump for the brake booster; i thought about installing one of those instead to keep everything 'factory' looking (and provide more consistent vacuum for the brakes). can't quite justify expense vs benefit if buying new, however.

If there isn't any obvious wear or damage, I'd buy a used one. There isn't much to them.

my worry is that, if someone is selling a used scavenge pump, then it probably came off a dead engine, so wondering how much metal passed through it before the engine stopped.

It just pumps oil out of the head, it isn't providing oil pressure for the engine so it isn't as critical as an oil pump (which I wouldn't buy used).

If there isn't scoring on the pump, it should be fine.

The rotor pump is a simple design that has been around since the 16th century. It is especially good at pumping oil with entrained gas. They are extremely reliable and would have to be severely damaged with major clearance issues to not work. The pump is only supplying energy/velocity to the fluid for the swirl pots to separate oil and gas, pressure is not required. IMHO used in good condition would be quite acceptable.

It`s easy to disassemble the pump, four bolts need to be removed. Then you can see it for yourself if it`s damaged or not.

Do it. Pretty simple assembly and a little scoring is imho, no big deal