Garmin430W Overheating and Display Brightness/Contrast Problems in Piper Arrow.

PeteSpencer

We've had a Garmin430W in our PA28R200 for the last eight years: Last year in the hot weather we noticed the Garmin overheated and the display began to fade in brightness and contrast: It could be restored manually but this was a bit of a faff to do in flight. The same thing is happening this year but the weather is still pretty cold.Last year I directed the footwell air vents back up behind the panel which seemed to work: Has anybody had this problem and considered somehow installing a cooling fan for the stack?

Scott Sherer

Hi Pete,
It's probably time for a repair from Garmin. Repairs are pricey but you should look into it while repairs are still available. We're anticipating end of life coming up and while we don't know exactly when, it's on the horizon.

arrow76r

Do you have either a fan or "blast tube" blowing air on the 430? When my 530W was installed a sandia cooling fan was also installed to provide cooling air for the 530W.

kentshaw

My 430w had a display problem which I thought was heat related and I had the small fan attached to the back replaced with a Sandia 3-port fan. My IA made a bracket that would attach to the right side of the stack and it has worked well. After installation, I discovered that the real issue was contrast settings in the configuration of the 430w. I adjusted that and problem went away.

Jim Turner

I had a similar experience last Summer. I discovered that the much older nav/com mounted directly beneath the G430 gets pretty hot when it’s on (it’s a MAC 1700). By turning the MAC off, the 430 did fine.

kzadora

Oh, that is excellent tip, Jim, thanks for sharing!

I may have similar situation with KX 155 right below the 430

N617FL

Per the previous replies, an avionics cooling fan is essential, and should have been part of your original GNS430 installation. If you did have a fan installed at that time, perhaps it needs repair/replace, or maybe the ducting simply became disconnected. My GNS430W is a similar age, and also sits on top of a KX-155 (it's been a great combo!). So far no problems of the sort you described.

If the fan turns out NOT to be the issue, then have your avionics shop ship your 430 back to Garmin for inspection/repair, per Scott's comment (and as he says, while service is still available). Garmin usually turns a unit around within a week. While they have it, they'll update the firmware version if necessary and clean it up ("free" haha). Round-trip Garmin service cost about $1,000 a few years ago (shipping included); I don't know what they're charging now.

AndyGoldstein

You absolutely positively want to have a fan on your 430. If you don't have one, get one before it gets heat damage. A few years ago we sent our 9 year old 430 back for repairs after the nav receiver started acting up. We were informed that indeed it had been heat damaged, and got a fan installed at that time. (Like others, we had another radio sitting under it.)

The display contrast is somewhat temperature sensitive. Ours looks a little funky when it's dead cold, but straightens out once it's warmed up. About the best you can do is go into maintenance mode and adjust the contrast when it's at "average" operating temperature. And get a fan.

I'd only send the 430 back to Garmin if it really needs to be fixed. The flat rate as of last year was $1200. How do I know? Because two years after the first turn-around, we had to send it back again because one of the panel switches started acting up. And now we're looking at having to send it back a third time because the radio tuning knob sometimes goes comatose. Garmin is working from their original stock of parts, and sitting in the warehouse for many years doesn't seem to be doing the replacement panels any good.

• Andy

Scott Sherer

Thanks so much for your comments Andy.