WTB: Narco Mk 12D Service Manual

LDJones

Touchdown! Greaser!
Gone West
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
10,998
Location
Twin Cities, MN
Display Name

Display name:
Jonesy
Looking for a service manual for a Narco Mk 12D digital nav/com. Or any help in locating a source. Thanks!
 
Looking for a service manual for a Narco Mk 12D digital nav/com. Or any help in locating a source. Thanks!

I know I have on in my hangar let me look tonight.
 
You'll need more than a service manual. You'll need an incredible amount of luck and patience, too. They're a horrible radio. We had several of them and they were all really troublesome and spent more time in the shop than in the airplanes.

Dan
 
You'll need more than a service manual. You'll need an incredible amount of luck and patience, too. They're a horrible radio. We had several of them and they were all really troublesome and spent more time in the shop than in the airplanes.

I've heard that, but then have friends who ran them for a decade without a glitch. Maybe luck of the draw?
 
I need a manual as well. Can I get in line to borrow it?

If I get one I will PDF it and make it available. Since the company is defunct I don't think there should be a problem with that.
 
I only have the installation manual.... However I would highly recommend Lafayette avionics in IN (specialize in Narco ) they do super good work for very low price on the Narcos especially for display issues...they can put in a new display for $250 plus shipping ..they are VERY touchy and I wouldn't use anyone else .. Bevel Regan in Kansas City also does lots of narco work...at any rate if the install manual is what you want let me know.
 
Last edited:
I only have the installation manual.... However I would highly recommend Lafayette avionics in IN (specialize in Narco ) they do super good work for very low price on the Narcos especially for display issues...they can put in a new display for $250 plus shipping ..they are VERY touchy and I wouldn't use anyone else .. Bevel Regan in Kansas City also does lots of narco work...at any rate if the install manual is what you want let me know.

Great tip. Thanks.
 
I've had 6 or 7 of them, never an issue, great radios. As opposed to my 155's that eat displays every few years.
 
I've had 6 or 7 of them, never an issue, great radios. As opposed to my 155's that eat displays every few years.

Same here, same 12D+ I installed in 1993. Works great, never an issue.
 
The Mk12D+ radios we had ate displays regularly We paid over $300 for the display plus installation.

I wonder if our cold climate had an effect on these radios?

The avionics guys we had working on them found that most of them didn't match the factory's schematics. There were extra parts installed here and there in some of them to make them work: resistors and capacitors bridging other stuff. One even had a little circuit board stuck in one corner with a few things on it to tweak the performance so they could sell it, I suppose. I don't know if some of the ICs were defective and Narco did this sort of thing to salvage a circuit board, maybe? Most outfits accept a certain percentage of loss in components or boards, toss them out, and factor the loss into the retail price of the rest of the units.

Maybe our Narco radios (all 1994-1995 vintage) came from a bad time at the factory, like the 1978 Dodge pickup I had. Built when Chrysler was at the bottom of its dive into oblivion before Iacocca saved it. Worst vehicle I ever owned, btw, and I still have a bad Chrysler taste from that experience.

Dan
 
Dan, I think there may be something to your theory since I have seen both sides of the experience continuum. The fact Narco is now defunct may be related to what you've observed. Years ago they were a solid third-tier player after King and Collins.
 
........ like the 1978 Dodge pickup I had. Built when Chrysler was at the bottom of its dive into oblivion before Iacocca saved it. Worst vehicle I ever owned, btw, and I still have a bad Chrysler taste from that experience.

Chrysler had good years?

My BiL worked at Chrysler for about 30 years and during that time I could buy at "employee greensheet" pricing which was well below dealer invoice. I was dumb enough to buy about 1/2 dozen cars, trucks, and jeeps thru the program during his tenure.

Never had a good one. Really glad I'm no longer tempted.
 
Last edited:
I had a jeep cj5 I bought used from a UPS mechanic who took great care of it, loved the vehicle but like your chrysler seems every time i drove it something major would break. Sold it to a guy I worked with for $2,000, about half they were selling for at the time, he never made it home. I told him in advance the problems. Next day at work he wanted me to pay for the repairs. Told I'll give him his money back not about to give it to him. Of course he didn't want to give it back, i sold it too cheap. About a year later he said he would have been money ahead giving it back. I still look at a jeep and think what fun to own, until i remember the troubles.
 
The fact Narco is now defunct may be related to what you've observed. Years ago they were a solid third-tier player after King and Collins.

I have an ancient Narco transponder in my plane that I've been told to get rid of because it's junk. I've have to work on it twice in twelve years...maybe spent $500 total on it. It just keeps on ticking along and doing its job. And it can be worked on cheaply if it goes down.

I have a 12 year-old Garmin GPS/comm in my plane that I installed new. The face died about 18 months ago so I had the honor of paying Garmin their "flat fee" of $750 or so to fix it. But I was lucky...

...shortly thereafter they quit supporting the unit.

A 12 year-old unit...

...will no longer be fixed if it breaks.

So when it dies again I'll have the pleasure of spending thousands.

Which one is junk again?

Garmin has us all so buffaloed.
 
i have had owned many narco mk12d's, transponders, adf's and dme's, all have been good. I think where narco got bad name was towards the end, then they had only flat fee repairs and wouldn't sell parts. I used G-Force Aviation at akron canton airport, Brad was the manager at the time, they also installed a stec auto pilot in my C210, fixed my narco dme he had some narco parts at the time. Best avionics shop I ever found. And no, i am not in any way associated with them other than a customer. I doubt they have parts anymore.
 
We had terrible luck with our 12D+'s and at the time NARCO was in their moribund factory service only zone which was absolutely terrible. No loaners and lousy turn around time. The plane was a rental and at IAD and we really couldn't use it without a full complement of radios. Other than that it wasn't a bad plane (Cessna 180) but we ditched it more because of the crappy avionics than anything else.

I don't thing there are actually any technically legal 12D manuals out there. Of course with NARCO gone, nobody's likely too worried.
 
maybe i got lucky. Of course all my airplanes were hangered, doubt sitting in the hot sun help them any. I don't remember seeing any narco service manuals either, seems they wanted to do all the work themselves. If one went bad now doubt you could get it repaired.
 
try to find john nygard at vip in Connecticut
 
I posted a NARCO question when I first signed up here after getting my 182 last year (I have a pair of 12D TSO's). I was given the following link and he steered me in the right direction. Seemed very knowledgeable in things NARCO.

http://www.mikesavionics.com
 
Back
Top