REFLECTOR:Auto Pilot Gremlin is a ghost

[Scott Derrick]

After pouring over the wiring to my autopilot 3 different days, cleaning 
connectors, yada yada, finding nothing that looks or measures wrong.... 
  Still when I engaged the autopilot it tracked 15 degrees off the pointer.

I called the closest Century dealer/shop and the autopilot dude was on 
vacation.  Just my luck...

So I finally buttoned everything back up and went flying today do 
experiment with my new CDI.  Climbing through 8500 ft and getting pushed 
around by the turbulence I thought what the heck the pointer is 15 
degrees off maybe it will at least keep the wings level so I can play 
with the GPS, so I engaged the autopilot.   There it went tracking right 
on the heading bug!! I flew to a local field about 60 miles away(local 
in NM terms) with the autopilot on in pretty bumpy air, a Banana and a 
210 were whining about moderate/severe but I thought it was closer to 
continuous light with an occasional moderate bump. Love how a canard 
fly's in turbulence...

Landed shut down but left the autopilot on, it slowly slipped off the 
heading bug to 15 degrees off.

Fired up flew home with the autopilot right on the money, the winds had 
picked up pretty good by then and it was getting to be quite a ride and 
a good workout for the autopilot.

I looked in the manual and it states in very small print that adjusting 
the response and control of the autopilot must be done with full vacuum 
so the gyros are powered up.

So, maybe just pilot error?  I can't honestly remember ever trying to 
get the autopilot to track the heading bug on the ground with the engine 
off before.

Scott