Garmin 430 enter button repair

My 430 enter button is flaking out.
Garmins flat rate fee to repair a button is insane.
I have experience with boards and switches.
Does anyone have experience repairing these buttons?
The unit is getting useless if I cant get past this enter button madness.
Thanks

Would it be save to "assume" the button is physically ok but pushing it does nothing?

Walt said:

Would it be save to "assume" the button is physically ok but pushing it does nothing?

Click to expand...

Face of the Button physically there and fine. Over the past year I have to push it harder and harder to get it to work. Now getting to where no matter how hard I push, sometimes it wont work.
I do not know whats behind the button. I would guess some commercially available button but Ive not had it apart. Im not afraid to take it apart (did that to replace the battery). Ive got experience with board level soldering and desoldering if I knew what was behind it I could order one and repair it myself.

I've "repaired" a few intermittent/inop button on Garmin units by spraying some "deox" behind the board where the button makes contact with the sensor board. These are resistive type switches and "cleaning the contacts" seems to fix most of them.

The problem I've seen in the Garmin transponders is access, the keypads are not readily dissassembled so applying a surface treatment directly, from what I've seen, is not possible.

Repair Update

I removed the unit, put her on the bench, and took apart the face plate. Nothing too complicated.
Got the board on the bench and located the offending button. These buttons reminded me of my Atari game joystick controllers. Only those things button would go flat. My offending button had positive actuation feel. Just poor contact.

There is a film protecting the buttons. I lifted the film, the buttons are only held in by the plastic film. I carefully lifted the metal of the button and sprayed the bejesus out of it with some MAF sensor cleaner I had on hand. Phillips screwdriver shows the lifted film.

Reassembled and it is back working and mostly effective. Still not making contact like a new button. But does work much better and this helped. Still requires a little extra push but does not require the smash of before.
It comes apart easy enough that if it happens again Ill try another solvent.

If you have to do it again, try this...

http://www.all-spec.com/products/D5S-6.html

I use it all the time to rejuvinate contacts on vintage Hi-Fi stereo equipment, and I used it to clean a couple of buttons on my GMA-340 audio panel. It works amazingly well in applications like this.

Part/most of the problem is oxidization of the contacts, and Deoxit will deoxidize as well as clean them.

Kahuna,

I've had the sprung/disc slip out of position. Good tape is a must.

The other concern is the shape and integrity of the back side of the button. If it's deformed, a little prc sculpting has been known to work.

Good luck,

interesting post. i have a few difficult buttons on my 430 that have been the same for quite a while. i will give this a try some day. seems like corrosion x would be a good candidate to help get the buttons going again. thanks.

Good job Mike,
Folks are a little shy to take this stuff apart for a button fix, glad you took the the bull by the horns, somehow I knew you would . I've done this a few times and its not much different than your basic TV remote. I'm more aggressive and use 1000 grit to clean things up but I get it the first time.