I can't seem to get the face plate to go in the dashboard unit. Is there a trick to it?

Take the lighter out. Stick your finger in there to hold it still, and unscrew the part behind the face plate.

if it is a detachable face try looking online at ebay for a new face plate

the cda 9830 and 9831 are known to have issues with the face plate connection that cause all kinds of issues. remove the face plate and clean the contacts on the face plate and the unit.

I have a c340 and instructions say: if your unit locks up. press the power button to turn off the unit, then press again to turn unit back on. If this does not help, reset by the following: place your thumb nail in the groove located under the Garmin logo on the face plate, gently pull off the face plate, press the reset button, turn the unit back on and it should operate normally

i cant seem to remove the unit from the dash ? thanks zac

THIS SOUNDS SIMPLE, BUT MAKE SURE YOUR
SUN VISORS ARE SNAPPED IN PLACE. THIS
WAS THE CASE ON MY MILAN AND YOU WILL
SWEAR IT'S COMING FROM THE DASH.

the programmed chip is malfunctioning....
this could have occured due to some short circuits...

take to service centre..no idea whether they would reprogram the chip..

I think I got the second half of the solution for this problem. Please look at post "Unit powers down when motorized face opens" for a solution. Seems like we need to buy the ribbon that connects to the face plate to fix this problem.

The faceplate may have a bent pin, or is not fully clicking into place.

Before getting all worked up, try pressing the release button to remove the face plate and carefully inspecting the areas where they click into the main unit, small pieces of debris may be stuck in the clips, if this is not the case, carefully re-insert the face plate, making sure to have aligned the guides before pressing the face plate back into place. You should hear a nice confirming click when the face plate is in place.

Bent pin or contact, can easily be spotted by grabbing a magnifying glass and looking at the allignment of each pin, take extra care when straightening the pin if this is the case.

**Tip**
Most solutions can come from closer inspection ...
ie: with a magnifying glass.

the same sort of thing happens to my unit.. try cleaning the electrical contacts on the back of the face-plate and the front of the "bare" head unit. Be careful not to bend any of the pins. a pencil eraser works well to get light oxidation up.. you can go over the contacts with a q-tip and some alcohol to do a final cleaning also.. make sure the car is off while you do this. Also, with my face plate, if the display is off after attaching it, pushing on the right side of it (gently but firmly) will get the lights and display to come on.. it seems to stay lit after I do that. hope it helps.