Century IV Autopilot Altitude Hold Problem

Fearless Tower

Fearless Tower

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Jan 1, 2010
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Fearless Tower
So this is a weird one....

I've been experiencing problems with my altitude hold in my Baron recently. The system will work fine for a few minutes and then all of the sudden kicks off to attitude mode. You can re-engage alt hold and it will take, but will keep kicking off every 30-60 seconds.

Seems that this started all of the sudden and today, I noticed a correlation: it holds fine as long as the cabin heater is off. Once you turn on the heater, it starts to kick off and will continue that until you secure the heater.

Anyone experienced this before? Any ideas why this would be happening? I haven't had any issues with the heater itself. Curious if this is a heater issue or an AP issue.
 
any chance the AP is mounted in a location where it's getting overheated? Some component failing with the extra heat?
 
sferguson524 said:
any chance the AP is mounted in a location where it's getting overheated? Some component failing with the extra heat?
Click to expand...
Not sure. Certainly a possibility. The computer is on the lower left panel. The coupler is mounted on the copilot side underneath the panel down low. Could be near the heater duct.
 
I think the cabin heater is your biggest clue. Follow the bread crumbs. Hopefully it is as simple as deflecting a bent duct or something.
 
Is there a static system connection to the autopilot? If so, I've seen leaks cause that.
 
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