Century 2000 Autopilot Repair

[Greg Feenstra]

About 1 1/2 years ago I bought a Comanche 260B, N79RG, with the Century 2000 autopilot connected to a Century Attitude gyro. During the test flight the autopilot failed and the plane began to porpoise and got worse with each cycle. The previous owner was furious with this because he said that he only had 20 hours on the plane since it was repaired for the same problem the last time.The previous owner said that he would take care of the problem if I bought the plane and we looked eachother in the eye and shook hands on it as we made the deal for the aircraft. Naturally, the worthless jerk renigged on the deal and when the bill came back at $675.00 he said that I took too long getting it serviced and he was no longer responsible. (I don't know that the liar put a time restraint on his promise or what he was thinking constituted a long time, it was only 3 months.)
Since then, the autopilot has failed in exactly the same manner, 2 additional times. So, the first time it was sent back for porpoising by the previous owner, it lasted just under 20 flight hours on the tach. Then it failed during the test flight, so I took it out and sent it in, ended up paying for the repair, and then installed it and started flying it again. It lasted 18 hrs this time. Now, Scott, down at Century thinks that maybe I screwed it up on installation somehow, so, he asked me to bring it in to an avionics shop and have somebody that is qualified do the work. No problem!! I brought it to Beacon Avionics in Lansing, Michigan and told them to have at it. Chuck told me that he would have it out and sent out in a day.
I asked Chuck if he would keep it inside for me during the next couple of weeks because I didn't have any way of securing the ailerons or stabilator during high winds. He said he would be glad to do this for me. Funny thing, 2 days later I'm flying commercial airlines out of Lansing and there's my plane, sitting outside, right where I left it. An then, 10 days later, when I'm coming back into Lansing, I look out and there's my plane again, sitting outside, in a slightly different area.
Not that this was a big deal, he took it in and warmed it up for me before I came to pick it up. The problem came in when I did the runup after getting my clearance to take off at the end of the taxiway. The yoke would not turn right. It would move to flat and level from left, but would go no further. (I found out that while I was on vacation, the plane sat out it a wind storm, exactly what I warned him about) I had to ask the tower for taxi instructions back to Beacon Aviation and to please contact the pilot, (who was now on his way back to his home airport) to turn around and come back to pick me up and give me a ride home. Chuck and his technicians felt real bad about it and they did fix it the next day. It needed to be rerigged, imagine that!
To their credit, during the installation of the attitude indicator they changed the filter and tube on the input side of the attitude indicator and the auto pilot did work and locked on the altitude and heading without the slightest waver. But for my $1700.00, they also broke wires on the inside of the instrument panel which I had to repair and when they rerigged it they didn't do it right and I had to have it done over again by my mechanic.
This time the autopilot lasted 13 hours. Then it failed, again, in the specific, exact, same way. So again, I tear my plane apart and there it sits again, for another month while these incompetent idiots work on it again, the fourth time, with no confidence that it will work right for any length of time in the future. Guess what, yep, you got it, even under warranty, they come up with this; the attitude indicator bearings have to be changed out because there was all kinds of debris in the indicator this time. Funny thing, they just had this thing totally apart to inspect the bearings and replaced a list of componants as long as my arm just 13 hours ago and made no mention of the debris on the bearings.
What kind of crap is this. I sent it to Beacon aviation because Century said that they wanted some one who knew what they were doing to take care of the install. I do this, they put a brand new filter and inlet tube on it, but now, somehow, the attitude indicator is full of black debris and they need to change bearings and it's going to cost me another $1200.00 so that in another 10-15 hours it can fail because they still haven't fixed the root cause of the problem and so they can charge me again.
Does anybody have any idea of someone who is a competent, honest, reasonable individual that will do an honest, solid job, fix this thing once and for all so that I don't have to deal with liars and incompetent technicians?

[Ron B Keil]

Greg,

I read your post about the Century 2000 Auto Pilot problems. Since each time you have the Attitude indicator "repaired", it begins to work for some period of time (albeit short time), and since it is a vacuum driven gyro, I would focus on the vacuum system. You also mentioned some black particles in the bearings. Has there been a vacuum pump failure in the past? How old are your vacuum lines?
It isn't fun, but I would suggest you replace all vacuum lines and filter. Make sure that there is no opportunity for any foreign matter to enter your vacuum system.

I had similar problems with Attitude indicators and DG's. The problems started after a vacuum pump failure. The probelms didn't go away until I replaced both gyros, and all vacuum lines and filter.

Ron

[David Pyle]

Greg,

I sent you a private email on the C2000 subject.

[Greg Feenstra]

Ron,
Thanks for the reply. One of the things that was the most irritating about this last go around with Century is that the filter and all the lines were all brand new from Beacon Avionics just prior to the repair of the Attitude gyro this last time around. As far as the vacuum system, I have not had a history of vacuum instruments failing nor is there any history of a vacuum pump failure in the logs. I'll take into consideration the items you have brought to my attention. Thanks again.

[N3322G]

Ron, thanks for posting your experience. We had an annoying and occasional pitch issue. Now that you mention your 'fix'. I have noticed it seems to have disappeared after some vacuum-system work which was done for another reason. May or may not be Greg's problem but brings up an aspect to consider.

[SPNA]

Check to make sure your vacum gauge is not reading low and thus you have to much vacum. To much can damage the gryos. After a gryo fail in another plane, I had the vacum gauge replace. Short story, during the run up to check installation, the new gauge peg to top and broke. oops.

[Sam Cowell]

I had a simalr issue with a customers PA-30 and we did in fact find vacuum lines in bad shap leading to the problems. I also agree with to MUCH vacuum it will damage the bearings as well.

2cents....
Sam

[Greg Feenstra]

Gentlemen,

Thankyou all for your replies. I appreciate them very much. A special thanks to David Pyle for the inside information on my plane and the in depth information on the Century Attitude Indicator repair facilities. I called Sigmatek in Augusta, KS who builds the Attitude indicator for Century, Mid Continent in Wichita, KS, Autopilots Central in Tulsa, OK, and John BanBladeren in Portland, OR and told them the whole story. They all agreed that this was absolutely rediculous and a couple of them informed me that they would see what they could do with a phone call to Century that might help me out. During these conversations I found out that the price range for a total rebuild of this attitude gyro including replacing the bearings was between $1000.00 - $1300.00 and most places have a 1 year warranty. I also found out that this gyro can be whole saled out at less that $3800.00. However, because I sent it to Century Flight Systems, I've got over $4000.00 into it already and they want another $1200.00 to replace the bearings and to "not fix it" again.

I now have an update: I called Century Flight Systems on Friday, 7/15/11, to ask them to send my Attitude Indicator to a different repair facility and was informed by Helene that they were now going to fix the attitude gyro for free but that this was the very last time they wanted to see this equipment at Century Flight Systems, and she was very pointed about it. So, when it fails again, more than likely in the next 10-15 hrs, I have to send it to another repair facility. These people are pathetic. But, at least I'm getting my Attitude indicator and autopilot back. And, when it fails, I can send it to a facility that is competent, backs their work, and is reasonably priced.

I'll keep you all informed.

Greg

[N3322G]

Greg,

As I often joke, my husband is quite happy that I am not and never have been a gentleman