Fix or replace my autopilot?

[aviatoreb]

Quote: allsmiles

What do you mean exactly it oscillates in roll. In nav tacking mode?

[MattS]

Looks like today may be my lucky day. Autopilot Central fixed my autopilot for about $850.  2 hours to reinstall and I am going to get this taken care of for less than 1 AMU.  Drinks are on me. 

[fantom]

Quote: LFOD

Looks like today may be my lucky day. Autopilot Central fixed my autopilot for about $650.  2 hours to reinstall and I am going to get this taken care of for less than 1 AMU.  Drinks are on me. 

[aviatoreb]

Quote: LFOD

Looks like today may be my lucky day. Autopilot Central fixed my autopilot for about $650.  2 hours to reinstall and I am going to get this taken care of for less than 1 AMU.  Drinks are on me. 

[MattS]

Oops...It was actually $850.  Basically I needed a $27 circuit of some type, but Autopilots Central has a flat labor fee of some ridiculous amount.  Not sure how I feel about this, but understanding the alternative, I will pay it (and they know this). At least I wont have to make my flight from WA to KS handflying the damn thing. 

[RJBrown]

Early one morning I took off Cenntennial (APA) bound for Florida. Gear up heading SE I pushed in the on button for the Century 31 auto pilot. Finger rolled on the rocker switch and right into the panel with no responce. 2 AM on a CAVU but moonless morning over Kansas. Hardest IFR I ever flew, not a cloud in the sky. Could not tell the difference between a star and a farm house. The switch behind the rocker had broken the solder joint and fallen loose inside. At the FBO in Little Rock I got a guy to resolder the switch back in. Still no auto pilot.  Seems something had touched and poped a fuse inside the control box in the back by the battery. When I got to Florida all I could find was someone to ship it off to a repair shop. There are about 10 cuircuit boards inside the controller and a ten cent fuse on an inner board was bad. I knew what was wrong. All they had to do was remove one board and install one fuse. Still cost me over $500 bucks and 4 weeks and that was over ten years ago. My wife did get pretty good at holding couse and altitude that trip.  

[N33GG]

Quote: LFOD

Looks like today may be my lucky day. Autopilot Central fixed my autopilot for about $850.  2 hours to reinstall and I am going to get this taken care of for less than 1 AMU.  Drinks are on me. 

[KSMooniac]

Great news for you, Matt!  Where are you headed in KS BTW?

aviatoreb, I have an STEC-30 in my J and would fix your A/P if I were you!  Your autopilot is tremendously more capable and worth chasing down your problem, especially since your gyros have recently been overhauled and presumably work fine.  

[MattS]

I am heading for KFLV for about three years.  Really looking forward to the move, we'll have to link up at some of these legendary BBQ joints I keep hearing about.

[Parker_Woodruff]

Quote: LFOD

I am heading for KFLV for about three years.  Really looking forward to the move, we'll have to link up at some of these legendary BBQ joints I keep hearing about.

[aviatoreb]

Quote: KSMooniac

Great news for you, Matt!  Where are you headed in KS BTW?

aviatoreb, I have an STEC-30 in my J and would fix your A/P if I were you!  Your autopilot is tremendously more capable and worth chasing down your problem, especially since your gyros have recently been overhauled and presumably work fine.  

[thinwing]

My kfc 225 a/p(this is the digital version of the kfc 200 with roll steering)while being layed up for an extensive panel upgrade,suddenly started acting up in roll axis.The real problem was that it was intermittent...you could be sailing along IMC ,busy programming in latest amended clearance ,and it would basically start to roll inverted!!!!...uh not good!!We and the techs suspected the roll servo from the start,but could never duplicate the failure in the shop...shaking,baking,freezing etc...it worked just fine on the shop bench.That ment we started to focus attention on the a/p computer itself and all the connectors....no dice,we would clean connectors and think everything was ok..and whammo...homicidal a/p would springout and attempt to kill us.This went on for a few months until the shop ordered a desperation kit which consisted of 1 freshly overhauled roll servo and 1 freshly overhauled a/p panel mount computer.The idea is you swap out components till problem gos away...the shop guys thought it was the computer itself and wanted to swap it out first.I was convinced it was the roll servo with no real reason other than intuition.They swapped out servo a year ago with no problems in roll..cost 1800 bucks.Now I have noticed the on 2 occasions the a/p not capturing alitude as commanded in hold.A test flight last wed revealled no problems holding alt commanded and tracking glidescope.Looking back on the logs I see both the pitch and roll servos having been replaced basically every 3/4 years or 300 hrs or so.Is this the reasonable expected service life on these ap servos???..kp couch

[aviatoreb]

Thank you for the help and recommendations folks.  For a little post-script.  I called autopilot central and they seemed convinced that with my symptoms and given the model AP I have, that most likely it was simply the roll servo.  I had my local AP/IA remove and mail in the servo.  They bench tested and found a good deal wrong with it.  Capacitors were "old style" and leaking.  Gears were brass, chewed up and there was brass dust all over the interior.   So long story short, it was mucked-up.  So a servo major overhaul and the diagnosis and testing all said and done was $3400.   Not cheap.  I was hoping that at least it would fix it.  It seems to have done the trick.  We got it back in yesterday and I test flew it today.  The KFC200 AP was rock solid.  Yay.  I hope it holds.

[Lionudakis]

I just checked on getting my Stec 30 fixed up, has the Turn coordinator overhauled, had Avionics test the computer and servo, computer was perfect, servo, not so. Conveniently Stec just quit supplying the replacement motors for my servo, you must buy a brand new servo now. The price just went up too. 

[jetdriven]

Yes that KFC200 is an awesome unit.   Repair it.  You have to pay 30K to get its functionality in a replacement, and S-TEC is totally blowing it as a company. I have read nothing good about them.  I wil stick with my old Century IIB-ALT30 as long as I can.

[aviatoreb]

Quote: jetdriven

Yes that KFC200 is an awesome unit.   Repair it.  You have to pay 30K to get its functionality in a replacement, and S-TEC is totally blowing it as a company. I have read nothing good about them.  I wil stick with my old Century IIB-ALT30 as long as I can.

[M016576]

Quote: jetdriven

Yes that KFC200 is an awesome unit.   Repair it.  You have to pay 30K to get its functionality in a replacement, and S-TEC is totally blowing it as a company. I have read nothing good about them.  I wil stick with my old Century IIB-ALT30 as long as I can.

[flyboy0681]

Quote: Mazerbase

I finally left the plane with Sarasota Avionics (SA) for an extended period of time and thought I was going down the same dead end until, viola, it was fixed.  I opted not to bother with the yaw dampener which would have cost about $2,500 to repair since something got bent when it was left on on landing some time prior to my acquiring the plane.  Sarasota charged about $7,000 for the repair.  Very painful but still less than a new unit by far.

The people at SA believe their technician is especially gifted with autopilots.  Maybe,maybe not but mine is working well now.  Are you near FL?

[ionel]

Have any considered the Avidyne DFC90 digital AP?  I’ve got an STEC 60-2 and recently installed an ASPEN EFD 1000-pro.  At this current point in time if my AP went belly up or needed expensive repair, I’d consider the DFC90 due to the digital integration with the ASPEN.  If one thinks they might also, at some point, move to replacing the six-pack with an EFD might want to consider the best AP for integration with any future upgrades.

[Antoni Deighton]

I don't think there's an STC to install the DFC-90 in Mooneys yet. They would be at the top of my list as well. 

[PilotDerek]

An autopilot is on my upgrade list, I'm hoping Avidyne will hurry up with the STC on our Mooney's because that is the one I want.

[KSMooniac]

Avidyne is reportedly working on Mooneys very soon, and I think we should all give them a serious look as they are the only company innovating in this arena right now.  Since Cobham gobbled up STEC, their prices have gone up, policies have gotten very bad, and service even worse.  I wouldn't consider them now except as a last resort.

[Vref]

Used my aircraft last week-end for the first time to fly an AP (KFC150) coupled ILS approach.

It took me while to fix all problems from ATT indicator issues KI256, HSI not working correctly (not slaving) well and wiring problems when my aircraft was re-assembled....but a good avionics shop with very knowledgeable technicians can save you loads of money....for BK A/P you just need all the test equipment/ break out extenders etc..

I flew the outbound leg manually then engaged the A/P in HDG armed NAV meanwhile to capture the Localiser and then to see if the armed APP mode engaged when capturing the G/S....It went a bit passed the LOC but it corrected, the glide was dead on..when reaching the DH (200Ft) corrections where a bit more apparent but it turned out perfect when reaching the missed approached  Alt, there was lot of crosswind.... I was truly amazed by its performance.....

I surely will keep my KFC150 and get it fixed as long as I can

[ionel]

Quote: KSMooniac

Avidyne is reportedly working on Mooneys very soon, and I think we should all give them a serious look as they are the only company innovating in this arena right now.  Since Cobham gobbled up STEC, their prices have gone up, policies have gotten very bad, and service even worse.  I wouldn't consider them now except as a last resort.

[Hondo]

AI the AOPA convention in October, I asked an Avidyne rep about the DFC90.

 

He said it would cost Avidyne about $500,000 to get an STC for the Mooney.

 

He seemed to have doubts about that from a business point of view.

 

Since the DFC90 lists for 9995, they would probably have to sell over a 100 units just to cover that cost. 

 

It looks like a very good AP, but how many Mooney owners would buy one?