Shoutout to the guy who proved me wrong about thermal paste on avionics modules

I used to think putting thermal paste on connectors was total BS, a waste of time. Then I worked a job last March on a Cessna 172 that kept getting intermittent GPS lock loss. Pulled the antenna base and found dry, crusty paste. Reapplied a fresh coat of Arctic MX-4 and the problem went away completely. Customer said they'd been chasing that gremlin for 6 months at other shops. Anyone else have a fix that seemed too simple to work but actually solved a tough issue?

2 comments

2 Comments

samthompson24d ago

Ngl, thermal paste on avionics connectors sounds like a bandaid fix that just masks the real problem. GPS lock loss could be a bad cable or corrosion inside the connector itself, and slapping some paste on it might just delay the inevitable failure by a few months. You'd probably get more mileage out of just replacing the antenna base or checking the coax for damage, since thermal paste isn't designed for electrical conductivity or sealing out moisture. A lot of these "simple fixes" end up coming back later with the same issue, and customers get annoyed when they realize it wasn't a proper repair. Doesn't seem worth chasing that shortcut when a proper diag takes maybe an extra 30 minutes.

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sullivan.abby23d ago

I used to think thermal paste was a decent temporary patch for GPS issues, but you're right it's really just covering up corrosion or a bad connection that'll fail again...