DG Failure

[Hank]

Went out for night currency landings this evening, only needed two more. Taxied to 13, set DG at hold short. Pulled onto runway, reset DG to 130 cause the panel overlay is cracked and gets in the way of the push-to-turn knob. Nice takeoff, good climb as the evenings are getting quite comfortable now even though it was 95° this afternoon. Turned crosswind, retarded throttle, turned downwind, looked at DG, still on 130. Spun it to 310, turned base, still on 310. Landed, rolled out to the end of the 3200' runway, watched DG as I turned around. Nuttin' honey, no motion at all . . .

Made second departure on 31, watched DG during all turns, pointing prettily to 310. Landed, taxied back to the hangar, shut down. The push-to-turn button is pushed in, touch it and the DG turns. Pull it out to disengage, let go and it pops back in. With the engine shut off. The AI worked well, as did the Turn and Bank, and the vacuum gage is reading right at the top of the green, so my ~3 year old vacuum pump is doing fine. This is a DG problem.

Will crawl around tomorrow after work and see if the vacuum hose popped off the back. Will call nearby avionics shop to check their schedule tomorrow. This is hooked into my Brittain AccuTrak and AccuFlite, so they are down. It's only about 20-25 minutes to the shop, I'll be good for day VFR, just have to use the wet compass. The drive to pick me up will be about an hour.

Any ideas? 

Edited September 8, 2016 by Hank

[Andy95W]

Hank- if it's a simple removal to send off for repair or overhaul, your local A&P can do it.  Or you can remove it yourself, call a few places to see who will overhaul it, and send it off yourself. Good luck!

http://www.flyaqi.com

http://www.centuryinstruments.net

You can just google aircraft instrument repair.

[Hank]

If only i had a local A&P . . . Twenty minutes to the avionics guy isn't too bad. 

[Guest]

Sometimes the spring inside which is connected to the knob comes off.  You will be able to set the heading but after that nothing happens.  The spring can be reconnected.

Clarnce