GFC500 GSA28 servo replacement

[Marc_B]

For those of you with the GFC500 AP, how many of you have already had to replace the servos with Mod1 servos?  If you haven't had issues (but have affected SN servos), when are you planning on getting the servos replaced...do you replace them now, towards the end of the warranty period, or a specific time in between?  From the service bulletin you have until 5/4/2028 to have these replaced under warranty.

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=y ... iNr8uLLUA6
GSA28 extended warranty service bulletin info link if you need it.

From Garmin FAQ:
How will my Warranty be impacted?
The standard warranty applies after the exchange of the servos. 6 months after the exchange OR the balance of your existing 2-year warranty applies, whichever is longer.

[Fly Boomer]

53 minutes ago, Marc_B said:

warranty applies after the exchange of the servos. 6 months after the exchange OR the balance of your existing 2-year warranty applies, whichever is longer.

Interesting.  So they originally anticipated that the "old" ones would last 2 years or longer, but now they are only willing to warranty the "new" ones for 6 months?

[Marc_B]

1 minute ago, Fly Boomer said:

So they originally anticipated that the "old" ones would last 2 years or longer, but now they are only willing to warranty the "new" ones for 6 months?

Basically you were given a 2 year warranty when you first purchased, and it was extended to 5 years with up to a 6 month extension on top of that. 

Most of the things I've purchased have an original warranty from the date of purchase and if you need to warranty an item the warranty on the product isn't extended, but rather still applied to the existing warranty from the date of purchase.  So it's actually up to a 5.5 year warranty (or more if you purchased before the SB was released 5/4/2023, since warranty extension was 5 years from that date (not from date of purchase or install).

[PT20J]

[Fly Boomer]

2 hours ago, PT20J said:

So I guess what I thought were "new" servos must be "factory repaired or newly overhauled" which get 6 months or 200 flight hours of warranty?

[PT20J]

2 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

So I guess what I thought were "new" servos must be "factory repaired or newly overhauled" which get 6 months or 200 flight hours of warranty?

Not sure why you thought they would be new. Garmin never promised that. When you buy something from Garmin and it fails during the warranty they replace it with new or repaired/overhauled at Garmin’s discretion. It's always been that way. What you will get back is a servo that has been brought up to the latest specs and tested and has a 6 mo. warranty.

[Fly Boomer]

51 minutes ago, PT20J said:

Not sure why you thought they would be new.

I just re-read the top of this topic and, as you point out, nobody said "new".  I just made the assumption that "replacement" of an apparently defective part might be with a new and improved version.  But I have seen the "at our discretion" language used in many warranties.

[dzeleski]

Mine were in the effected range but I had no issues with my servos. Since I fly in IMC a good amount I just had them swapped anyway. Took about a day and the total bill I got was $0.

[201Mooniac]

I had no issues with mine but they failed to update for one of the software updates and I had all 4 of them replaced.  No charge and nbo issues since.

[Marc_B]

I haven't had any issues...so it's a question of extended warranty + 6mo vs replace but now only 6 months warranty left.  My shop suggested I wait.  But really not clear of the probability of issues with current servos...

"Due to a supplier issue, there is a chance of reduced service life of one of the GSA 28 internal components resulting in servo failure. The servo failure can happen in flight with an annunciated "AP DISC" indication, or on the ground during a preflight check. In either case, the autopilot is rendered inoperable until the servo is replaced."

[hypertech]

I'd get it done as soon as your preferred shop has a slot and access to the parts.  Mine was backed up so I was on the waiting list.  Then the roll servo failed on take off as I was departing on a 1000 nm trip that ended up in lots of IFR and a hand flown missed.  It couldn't have been a CAVU day on a lunch trip - things seem to fail at the most inopportune time.  

[Marc_B]

So I finally bit the bullet and got the warranty servos ordered. Flying back from Florida in April it was porpoising at times up to 1000fpm up and down. Didn’t see any change using PIT, and didn’t see any difference using alternate static source. Seems like issues would wax and wane. But then I got a red Pitch trim error on the PFD and electric trim wouldn’t work. This resolved with cycling the AP circuit breaker. Got a transient flag that went away a couple more times.

I talked to my shop about warranty 1 vs all 4. They thought it made more sense to do them all and be done with it. So hopeful should get this taken care of this week and back to a rock solid AP like it had been up until now.

For reference, original servos installed Oct 2022 and have about 300 hrs on them. 

[bradp]

I’ve been replacing them as they failed.  One a year for the last few years.   I had my YD go first.  Then on two sequential trips home from Oshkosh, I lost my pitch trip and pitch servos.  Just yesterday I had the roll servo finally go.  So I guess that answers that question

[laytonl]

I had the pitch servo fail two weeks after installing the GTC-500.  That was three years ago.  I had another pitch servo fail last week and they did a warranty replacement on the second one too.  Lee

[ArtVandelay]

I have 500 hours on my 3 2019 servos, no issues yet FWIW.(knock on wood)