Garmin 430W - Maintenance or Repair?

[WAFI]

Well like I’ve said before, I’m new to this aircraft ownership thing…. 

I have a Garmin 430waas and was wondering when do you send your 430 out for service?

“If it ant broke don’t fix it” type of service? Or is there a general rule or time frame I should send mine out?

Yes, it has been working fine but I did have a day last week where it lost GPS signal a couple times. It did regain signal and was fine for the rest of the flight. 

All thoughts are welcome—

[StevenL757]

I wouldn’t jump to believe you have a bad unit.  You were possibly in an area where the signal just happened to be degraded.  I’d personally try flying again in a different area or multiple areas and see if the problem recurs.  If it becomes a rampant problem, you should check with your avionics shop and see what troubleshooting they can take you through before investing much in troubleshooting and repairs.

If push really comes to shove, and the unit ends up being to blame, you’ll likely be better-off putting the flat-rate cost that Garmin charges into a new 650Xi unit…or even a 750Xi unit if your wallet and panel allow for it.  They’re both incredible units.

[GeeBee]

You got it. If it ain't broke, it don't need fixing. Loss of signal may be an antenna thing, or normal course, check your notams.

 

 

[philiplane]

usually caused by the antenna. Over-torquing the screws can cause the antenna body to separate, water gets in, and then the board inside eventually goes bad.

[PT20J]

You can only get these things repaired by Garmin and they have a pretty hefty flat rate repair fee, so I would not send it in unless you know for certain it is broken.

Skip

[4cornerflyer]

That hefty price is around $1500. This also is not a decision you the owner can make on your own. An avionics shop must be involved.

Per Garmin's terms of service:

"All certified products must be returned through an authorized Garmin Aviation Service Center for service." (emphasis theirs)

Brief loss of GPS is not necessarily a problem It happens to me a few times a year, only for a minute or two.

Jon

[hammdo]

2 hours ago, WAFI said:

Well like I’ve said before, I’m new to this aircraft ownership thing…. 

I have a Garmin 430waas and was wondering when do you send your 430 out for service?

“If it ant broke don’t fix it” type of service? Or is there a general rule or time frame I should send mine out?

Yes, it has been working fine but I did have a day last week where it lost GPS signal a couple times. It did regain signal and was fine for the rest of the flight. 

All thoughts are welcome—

Did NOTAMs state and disruption of GPS?  I'd check that (as GeeBee stated) before blaming the 430...

-Don

[MikeOH]

When my 430W bricked, it cost a flat $1200 (that was two years ago), and I had to go through a Garmin authorized dealer, which was nice as they took care of all the paperwork, packing and shipping.  I'd fix it again before I'd drop $13K on a 650xi, plus install.  All the 'cool kid' toys just ain't worth to me.  YMMV

[WAFI]

The lost of signal was a short flight from KFXE - KHWO south Florida area, I wouldn’t think the signal would be degrade there. I checked the Notams with not mention of any activity that would warrant a signal lose. 

[1980Mooney]

8 hours ago, 4cornerflyer said:

That hefty price is around $1500. This also is not a decision you the owner can make on your own. An avionics shop must be involved.

Per Garmin's terms of service:

"All certified products must be returned through an authorized Garmin Aviation Service Center for service." (emphasis theirs)

Brief loss of GPS is not necessarily a problem It happens to me a few times a year, only for a minute or two.

Jon

Garmin's flat price for IRAN of a GNS430W is now $1,850 plus shipping.  I just had mine repaired.  I don't see the value in spending about $13,000-14,000 for a GTN650 installed as a replacement which doesn't really add any material capability over the GNS430W.

 

My avionics shop said that Garmin is running out of major parts like the screen.  

Edited December 13, 2021 by 1980Mooney

[1980Mooney]

3 hours ago, PT20J said:

You can only get these things repaired by Garmin and they have a pretty hefty flat rate repair fee, so I would not send it in unless you know for certain it is broken.

Skip

This is what it looks like when the screen fails internally. Those are not cracks in the surface of the screen. 

[DCarlton]

56 minutes ago, WAFI said:

The lost of signal was a short flight from KFXE - KHWO south Florida area, I wouldn’t think the signal would be degrade there. I checked the Notams with not mention of any activity that would warrant a signal lose. 

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of RF interference in South Florida.  There's a lot of RF stuff going on in South Florida and the Carribean.  Agree with not jumping to conclusions.  If you do have to overhaul, I just sent mine to Garmin as a flat rate repair.  It came back like new. 

[carusoam]

Summary for Wafi….

1) Fix anything that is broken…. Related to AW issues… and/or personel spending habits…

2) Really important if you fly in IMC….

3) At least know how bad the damage is…. Can it get worse and fail…?

4) If it makes you look like you have anger management challenges… like 1980’s pic above, fix it before your mother in law sees it…. 

5) What do you have for back-up?

6) Can you afford to fix this thing?

7) Do you prefer to upgrade to newer technology anyways?

8) Would you like to swap it out for a pre-flown radio that is similar?  (Ask Alan)

9) Work on your airplane ownership skills…

- have a go to mechanic to ask questions and point at things….

- have a radio guy to do the same….

- start on MS writing out the detail of your challenge… some great responses come in…

- search the existing challenges to help best word your current challenge….

 

There isn’t a standard answer that fits everyone…

How do you use your plane?

1) Family of four?

2) Fly in IMC often?

3) Gone for days at a time?

4) Rely on your plane to get you home using this device?

 

There are no standard questions….

So… there are no standard answers…

The more detail you supply, the better the answers are….

Something to get used to after a while…. 
 

Radio issues… lots of antenna, and grounding issues to be aware of…

Nav issues…   Same thing….

Most often… it’s not the box itself, until all the antenna and wiring issues are chased…

Start searching G430W challenges… see if any of them fit your situation….

There are a few good radio shops resident on MS…    
And many things you can identify yourself… some are even fixable by aircraft owners with a can of electronics cleaner…
 

Hard to recommend a close by shop…. If you hide where you are from…

New owners have a tendency to hide behind a veil of secrecy… to keep people from knowing they are new to ownership and want some help….

People new to MS… don’t even know there is a wealth of info that can be shared… because they use a tiny phone screen when they set up their account….  It’s still available, just have to look for it a bit harder…

Best regards,

-a-

[Greg Ellis]

On another thread in MooneySpace, someone had mentioned this place for Garmin 430 repairs.  I don't know anything about the place however, just passing along information.

GNS 430 [Garmin GNS 430] - $135.50 : PalmDR.com, PDA Repair Done Right!

 

[1980Mooney]

7 hours ago, Greg Ellis said:

On another thread in MooneySpace, someone had mentioned this place for Garmin 430 repairs.  I don't know anything about the place however, just passing along information.

GNS 430 [Garmin GNS 430] - $135.50 : PalmDR.com, PDA Repair Done Right!

 

They may be able to diagnose and do some repair but I doubt that they are certified by Garmin to do repair. Garmin does not release repair documentation since all their products are engineered as LRU's - Line replaceable units. Without documentation, its not legal for anyone to work on them; especially for a repair station. Although you may not care that any repair wouldn't be documented, most repair station wouldn't want to take the risk.  Theses guys probably don’t care.  Also some parts are no longer manufactured and but Garmin has some inventory.  If theses guys work on it but lack parts then Garmin won’t touch it later. 

[0TreeLemur]

On 12/12/2021 at 10:29 PM, WAFI said:

The lost of signal was a short flight from KFXE - KHWO south Florida area, I wouldn’t think the signal would be degrade there. I checked the Notams with not mention of any activity that would warrant a signal lose. 

Coincidentally, the only two times I have had "LOSS OF SIGNAL" on my 430W was flying near or offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.  Hundreds of hours inland never a problem.

[4cornerflyer]

On 12/14/2021 at 7:39 PM, 0TreeLemur said:

Coincidentally, the only two times I have had "LOSS OF SIGNAL" on my 430W was flying near or offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.  Hundreds of hours inland never a problem.

It's the opposite for me, although I do live in mountain country and not on the coast.

The most common site where I have lost GPS signal over the past decade has been on departure from Eagle, CO airport EGE runway 25, elevation 6500', with mountains up to 14,000 all around. Again, only a handful of times over years. It did happen to me once in FL, I think either out of Lantana or Ft Myers. 

 

Jon

[icurnmedic]

I went with the 650,when already installing some other items, and am happy I did.

if I were just talking about the 430, I would seriously consider the avidyne.

plug and play is my understanding.

good luck 

[Urs_Wildermuth]

On 12/13/2021 at 1:26 AM, WAFI said:

Yes, it has been working fine but I did have a day last week where it lost GPS signal a couple times. It did regain signal and was fine for the rest of the flight. 

 

As others have said, check the antenna. We've had this happen. It was fixed for a few dollars taking the antenna off, cleaning all the connections and re-installing properly.

Also you might try cleaning the connectors on the unit and in the rack.

 

We have not had a single outage since.

[Will.iam]

For what it’s worth, reading this thread i was under the assumption that the only way to fix my intermittent  squelch issue with my garmin 530 was to pay a flat rate fee to garmin dealer. How pleased i was to find out Bevan Aviation not only fixed my squelch knob but replaced a com board and screen on my 530 for 0.9 AMU. They also did a fantastic job on my KX-165 radio tuneup as well getting my OBS working again on the nav side. Highly recommend their services. I flew my plane up there and had them troubleshoot a nav autopilot issue that i thought was my old HSI. They tested and found the HSI and autopilot work correctly individually but were not talking to each other so must be wired up incorrectly or a loose connection. Saved me from buying an HSI to then find out it’s not the problem. When i have a free day i will fly it up there and get the wiring corrected and put in a refurbished ADI as mine is on it’s last leg and they will also tune it to the autopilot after install.  

[65C_flier]

On 12/16/2021 at 6:57 PM, Urs_Wildermuth said:

It was fixed for a few dollars taking the antenna off, cleaning all the connections and re-installing properly.

Might have to give this a try. I've got 2 x 430Ws and the #2 unit has a "LOSS OF SIGNAL" for 1-2 mins about every second flight during climb out. 

On some occasions I have pulled up the satellite page on both units and watched the #2 unit slowly get signal back for each satellite shown on #1. Very rarely happens more than once on any given flight. It hasn't bothered me too much as the #1 unit is solid and I don't keep the database updated on the #2 unit anyway, but it sounds consistent with a loose antenna connection so it is worth a look.

[RobertGary1]

On 12/12/2021 at 9:02 PM, 1980Mooney said:

Garmin's flat price for IRAN of a GNS430W is now $1,850 plus shipping.  I just had mine repaired.  I don't see the value in spending about $13,000-14,000 for a GTN650 installed as a replacement which doesn't really add any material capability over the GNS430W.

 

My avionics shop said that Garmin is running out of major parts like the screen.  

Got to figure the end of support for the 430w will be sooner rather than later. It’s probably hard to get old tech components as no one makes them. 

[MikeOH]

42 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

Got to figure the end of support for the 430w will be sooner rather than later. It’s probably hard to get old tech components as no one makes them. 

Could be.  But, is that a month, a year, 5?  When my 430W croaks again, that's when I'll worry about it.  Meantime, I'm going to enjoy the use of my functioning 430W.  If it can be fixed for a few AMU I'll fix it again before I drop 20 large on a brand new system.

If someone is just looking for any excuse to rip the 430W out of their panel to put in the latest and greatest, then I hope theirs bricks tomorrow

[anthonydesmet]

On 12/13/2021 at 12:02 AM, 1980Mooney said:

Garmin's flat price for IRAN of a GNS430W is now $1,850 plus shipping.  I just had mine repaired.  I don't see the value in spending about $13,000-14,000 for a GTN650 installed as a replacement which doesn't really add any material capability over the GNS430W.

 

My avionics shop said that Garmin is running out of major parts like the screen.  

I can also confirm.  Waiting for mine to return this week.  $1850 or full up GTN 650 with install was an easy decision.  I could potentially buy 3 x 430’s and keep them on the shelf for swap for price of a GTN.
 

Your overhauled 430 also comes back with either a 2 or 1 year warranty (can’t remember).

As an FYI, Sarasota Avionics informed me that Garmin is ending 430/530 overhauls this March but they will honor the warranty. Someone around here can probably confirm.

[TheAv8r]

My 430W's buttons were near impossible to use, you'd have to push them in ridiculously hard to get it to respond, so I was faced with this same question. I figured I could sell my 430W for about $5k with its issue. A GTN650 would be $12k installed, so $7k more. Offset that by $2k to send my 430W to Garmin for repair and I was looking at a minimum of $5k more for a 650, though could be even more. That just wasn't worth it to me. My 430W came back practically brand new and works excellently, final bill was around $2300, since an avionics shop has to be the ones to send it in to Garmin (silly to me) and they charged me for removal, shipping to Garmin and re-install and configuration. 

If a GTN650 would have been within $2k, I probably would have paid it to upgrade to the modern equivalent. But $5-7k, just not worth it for the functionality. 

FWIW I have over 250hrs behind the 650 so I'm very familiar with it and what it can do.