Why nobody talks about using a heat gun to fix corroded pins

I was working on a King KX 165 nav radio in a Cessna 172 last week, and the pins were so crusty I couldn't get a clean connection. Tried contact cleaner, a tiny brush, nothing worked. On a whim I hit the connector with a small heat gun on low for 20 seconds to dry out the corrosion, and it actually fixed the intermittent signal loss. Has anyone else used heat like this, or am I gonna kill something doing it?

2 comments

2 Comments

shah.ben8d ago

KX 165 pins are gold plated, 20 seconds of heat won't hurt them but watch the plastic housing.

brooke4758d ago

Gold plating on those pins is thin, like really thin. A little too much heat or a bad iron tip and you lift that plating right off. Then you get intermittent connections or corrosion down the line. Better to use a low-temp solder and be quick about it, thirty seconds max.