GNS 430W Gremlins

[N9453V]

I have an unusual problem with the Garmin 430W and wondering if anyone else has experienced the same. Since Garmin replaced the COM board last year, I've occasionally had the COM radio not transmit (although I can receive fine and it displays a TX indication) and at the same time, it displays a NAV flag on the HSI (although the HSI still appears to be receiving a NAV signal) then sometime later, it magically recovers. This has only happened about 3 times and each of those times were a cold, wet morning departure when the plane has spent the night outside (most recently out of AGC in the fog/rain). Any ideas? My avionics guy has never heard of it before, but is going to check with Garmin.

Thanks,

-Andrew

[bd32322]

maybe there is leak between the windshield and airframe interface - sorry dont know what I am talking about - but maybe water is leaking in there ..?

[Piloto]

Before spending any money try re-seating the 430 on its tray by pulling it out with the Allen wrench screw and then in re-seating it back with the Allen wrench. While seating it back wiggle the unit to insure is seated all the way back.

José

[Oscar Avalle]

For the transmitting part I would check the antennas.

[flight2000]

Spam much....

Is there a way to block these knuckleheads from spamming our boards?

Brian

[peter]

For the transmitting part I would check the antennas.

+1

Perhaps a bad antenna or coax somewhere, or splitter. The correlation between com and Nav is a clue.

It could also be a bad box. If the original Garmin work is still under warranty it may be cheaper to start your troubleshooting there.

[KSMooniac]

Spam much....

Is there a way to block these knuckleheads from spamming our boards?

Brian

There is a "Report" function for posts and users. I've just tried it to alert Craig and hopefully he can flush this turd.

[flight2000]

There is a "Report" function for posts and users. I've just tried it to alert Craig and hopefully he can flush this turd.

Thanks Scott. Didn't see the report button earlier, but do now.

For those that don't see the posts any longer, there were several posts from someone that were copy and paste ads for junk that had nothing to due with our forum. They have since been removed, so please don't think my post above was geareed towards the OP...

Brian

[carusoam]

Brian,

You did well. I had Seen the garbage one moment and then it disappeared, leaving your comment floating...

Just figured that it was there and got flushed.

Thanks for keeping our space clean.

Best regards,

-a-

[Moonkee]

... a cold, wet morning departure when the plane has spent the night outside ...

Most electronic failures end up being in connections. If you have a satellite design and go to the reliability guys, what they want to know is how many connections are in the bird and what kind. The fact that this is temperature-sensitive also points to connections. That's why, as Piloto suggested, disengaging and reseating connectors is always hign on the troubleshooting list.

When you attempt to transmit, is it that ATC cannot hear you or that you cannot hear yourself on a hand-held in the airplane? If you can hear yourself, then the radio is probably transmitting just fine and it is an antenna connection issue. Deteriorated coax usually just adds attenuation, it does not get intemittent.

If you can't hear yourself locally, then it's in the radio as you expect. The fact that the nav flag moves (something almost totally independent of the primary problem) tends to point toward a grounding problem. A weak ground connection, inside or outside the box, can produce very weird behavior. Can your avionics shop leave the box in a fridge overnight and bench test it when it's cold? (I suppose you could do this test if you can get the radio thoroughly chilled and quickly plug it into a warm airplane.) That might provide a clue as to whether the issue is inside or outside the box. If they can duplicate the problem, then it becomes Garmin's problem not yours. If not, you still own it. Troubleshooting this kind of thing can be a b1tc#.