Any suggestions to get rid of gremlins (430,DG)?

[rjb]

It was a dark and rainy night. While doing some full stop landings
to maintain night currency, I couldn't bring up the lights. Enforced
noise abatement? No, com 2 works.

The the 430 complained about losing GPS signal, then it went black
screen.

In the hanger, I moved the 430 to a docking station, it came alive
and then went black in a couple of minutes.

Unfortunately the avionics shop couldn't find anything wrong and
it has performed without problem the last 10 hours and flying in
some rain. I'm reluctant to believe a dirty contact wiped clean
but I don't know how to proceed to restore my confidence.
Suggestions? Fly in IMC and survive (since the 430 has all the
IFR capabilites)?

The autopilot DG decided to make my life more interesting the last
two flights. Vacuum pressure in solid mid green, attitude indicator
performing flawlessly, about 15 minutes on the outbound leg,
the DG spins around more than 1 revolution in under a second.
Reset and it performs adequately (some precession but not much)
the rest of the flight. After more than 30 minutes on the homeward leg,
the DG makes a sudden more than 90 movement, and then functions
normally the last 1/2 or 3/4 hour.

I'd sure appreciate suggestions (helpful more than others, but...)

Thanks,
Dick

[aero101]

I would suggest that DG has some crud or developing bad bearing in gyro and would replace it as it will probably get worse as time goes by. Suspect you probably had a dirty pin or contact on the 430 and would just keep an eye on it in VFR conditions for awhile? Good luck with the gremlins... Jim

[rjb]

Thanks. I was afraid I was going to get that response. The STEC
capable autopilot DG is a pricey little bugger and it's more than a
little annoying to happen within 15 months and 210 tach hours on
a factory new plane.

-Dick

[Kirk]

If the DG is that new, call S-Tec and see what they say,or for that matter call Maule. May not be under warranty anymore but S-Tec might treat you right.

Good news on repair cost is that it sounds like a bearing or rotor problem and repair shouldn't cost more than on a non-auto-pilot DG. With autopilot DGs, repair or overhaul will pretty much always be cheaper.

Kirk

[rjb]

Maule has supported me in the past to the best of their
abilities which is they support what they build, not what
they install. Large, can't miss print.

I did replace my tach under warranty because it read
200 high and I didn't want to hand wave to the DPE
during my checkride about don't worry being over
redline.

Afterwards I added a 3rd time definition:
1 New York time,
2 south of the border time
3 warranty repair time

I will see what Sigma-tek has to say.

Thanks
-Dick

[210TC]

Dick,
Are you having problems with your 430? I will not fly with one, to many black out's/lost sats. When I questioned Garmin several years ago they sent me an article stating this was normal. Now you know why i sold my garmins on Ebay.
A friend of mine in Florida argued how good his was coupled to a Tru Trax auto pilot in his Harmon Rocket, UNTIL he was flying into Louisiana just after the big hurricane and lost it on vectors to final. If you are flying a 430 without a backup you are an accident waiting for a place to happen.

[a64pilot]

Your auto pilot is made by S-tec and it's a vacuum powered DG? Which S-tec is that?

[rjb]

The DG is a Sigma-Tek 4000D-6 1U262-006-45.

The Garmin 430 has yet to act up again. I also have Anywhere WX,
a NAV/Com xcvr, and a handheld Garmin GPS 76CS, but the 430 isn't
going to see any IMC until the weather warms up and cloud bottoms
are 3000 AGL

I got the IFR rating in order to climb out of foggy summer mornings;
deliberately flying into a place of miserable weather doesn't appeal to
me out here in sunny someplace California.

-Dick

[a64pilot]

OK, I got it the DG is not the autopilot, but is a bootstrap DG, The only time I've had what you describe is after doing spins. It definately has problems, Maule can't help you. Try S-tec, I think they will.
I have had problems with Garmin, I production test fly new aircraft and deliver some. Some Garmin equipped. Honestly unless you have two of them, I don't trust them anymore. The Bendix - King stuff is old technology and outclassed by the Garmin, but it always works. Recently I had a voltage regulator fail and go to high output. Before the circuit breaker popped, most electrical things in the airplane were fried. All the gauges, gear, flaps, autopilot etc. It was like lightning had struck, but the King avionics survived. I have no idea how high the voltage went, but it smoked the "six pack" gauges literally.

[Kirk]

Drifting the post off topic here but interested in the recent comments on Garmin reliabilty. I'm not interested in getting their GPS, but am considering the SL-30 as a replacement nav-comm if my venerable KX-175B gives me any trouble.

Anyone had reliability problems on the SL30? Hard to beat Bendix/King on the reliability, my KX-175B is 30 years old now and has only needed the volume knob pot cleaned for the nav ident. It was a bit scratchy.

Kirk

[210TC]

I do not know the difference between a 170/175 B. I can say that no radio has a better reputation than a 170B. The King people will tell you it was the best of the best.
Now, we all want the flip flops. Before you install that new harness and tray you should consider the TKM, my daughter has one and it is about 1600.00 new. You can just slide it in your exsisting tray and presto. You can keep old faithful as a back up?
The TKM works great.

[donknee]

The Icom 210 should not be overlooked for a comm only. Good quality, good price, can interface with gps for frequencies, too. Here is a reference description:
http://www.mypilotstore.com/MyPilotStore/sep/4919

[belandd]

I also got the TKM to replace my King 170b. I am very ahppy with it.

We use the Garmin 420 in all of our helicopters and have never had a problem.