Autopilot Not Working

brewster16

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2009
1,442
Long Beach Island, N.J.
Boat Info
'07 44 Sundancer
Engines
Twin Cummins QSC 8.3
Raymarine ST 8001 powers up no problem, captures a heading no problem, "standby mode", no problem. However, when I hit the "autopilot" button on the control head the screen reads "autopilot on" but the boat does not hold heading. I can turn the little wheel on the autopilot control head and nothing happens. I can also still steer the boat, even though the reading is "autopilot on." Any guidance or help appreciated....
 
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Shafts/rudders or Zeus? You have Zeus, its above my pay grade. Zeus systems, like our Volvo IPS pods is a "drive by wire" arrangement where your AP computer is talking directly to the Zeus steering system.

If you have shafts/rudders it sounds like a failure between the AP electronics and the physical steering system.
 
Go to the raymarine Forum, under Autopilots. Post up your symptoms and they will give you troubleshooting advice.

From what you've posted it hard for me to understand whats going on, but maybe a bad connection from the autopilot course computer and the pump.
 
Thanks...good idea, worth a try.... Anyone else have advice bc I'm going to go behind my dashboard this week to check connections.
 
Go to the raymarine Forum, under Autopilots. Post up your symptoms and they will give you troubleshooting advice.

From what you've posted it hard for me to understand whats going on, but maybe a bad connection from the autopilot course computer and the pump.

Ditto. The Raymarine forum at Raymarine.com is the best place to start. They also have a number of FAQs that outline upgrade/compatibility paths for older autopilots that can help in possibly integrating newer design parts to replace unavailable originals.
 
Brewster,
This could be something as simple as the cotter pin connecting the AP steering ram to the rudder gear fell off. It also could be something electronic.


When you engage the AP and it says it's functioning, but it's not steering the boat, does it generate and off track error?

When you engage the AP and take your hands off the wheel, what happens?
 
Brewster,
This could be something as simple as the cotter pin connecting the AP steering ram to the rudder gear fell off. It also could be something electronic.


When you engage the AP and it says it's functioning, but it's not steering the boat, does it generate and off track error?

When you engage the AP and take your hands off the wheel, what happens?

I was on Raymarine Forum and printed off trouble shooting options for testing the AP drive unit.....I can definitely tell you that the clutch in the drive unit does not engage no matter what. The steering wheel is free to turn under all settings on the AP. In other words I can manually steer the boat even when AP engaged. I will go down and check the cotter pin you spoke of too, but I am highly suspicious that there is a loose wire between the head unit and the course computer behind the dash.
 
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I was on Raymarine Forum and printed off trouble shooting options for testing the AP drive unit.....I can definitely tell you that the clutch in the drive unit does not engage no matter what. The steering wheel is free to turn under all settings on the AP. In other words I can manually steer the boat even when AP engaged. I will go down and check the cotter pin you spoke of too, but I am highly suspicious that there is a loose wire between the head unit and the course computer behind the dash.

Sorry, when I spoke of cotter pin that was not meant to be literal. The thought is it could be as simple as a lost mechanical fastener.
 

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At this point I have not done anything but play with all the buttons on the AP control head. This pilot worked for 4 seasons on my boat but beginning the end of last summer I began having a problem holding any heading as I described in my post. I am fully prepared to go behind the dash and trace wires but I really don't know that much about the components of an AP system. Can you tell me what to expect downline from the AP control head on the dash? BTW my boat is a 44 Sundancer with mechanical steering ram to rudders.
 
Brewster,

The following image was provided in a post to the Raymarine forum website. I grabbed it because it had your style of AP. It shows major components and connections. There is your St 8001 a S1g course computer, flux gate compass (black mushroom looking thing) and a rudder actuator.
 
We have same issue. I was told it was the electric compass. We have not fixed it yet.
 
Turn off start keys. Turn off all DC power at the battery switches. Turn off all house power switches. Turn batteries on. Turn on start keys. Should be good
 
Check the power and function of the hydraulic pump. There should be a fuse for it somewhere in the system also.
 
I was having similar issues. My rudder position sensor broke off. Simple fix and it solved the problem.
 
Raymarine ST 8001 powers up no problem, captures a heading no problem, "standby mode", no problem. However, when I hit the "autopilot" button on the control head the screen reads "autopilot on" but the boat does not hold heading. I can turn the little wheel on the autopilot control head and nothing happens. I can also still steer the boat, even though the reading is "autopilot on." Any guidance or help appreciated....
The AP hydraulic pump for your system should be under the helm; it's probably a Raymarine Type 3 and looks like this:
Hydraulic-pump-small.jpg

Engage the AP system and feel the pump with your hand you should feel it run forward and reverse. If not the 40 Amp fuse in the course computer (also located under the helm) is probably blown. The fuse in on the right side of the course computer as seen here:
 
Brewster16 - be aware if you have the Ray SmartPilot system which includes an ST8001 head unit there are no cotter pins, rudder actuators, steering rams, rods or other such devices.
There is an electric hydraulic pump that circulates the steering system fluid through the same hoses as the steering wheel and actuates the same hydraulic ram as the steering wheel.
There is a course computer (probably an SG3) that integrates the whole system including the head unit, flux gate compass, GPS receiver, hydraulic pump, and rudder position sensor.
The St8001 is the human/machine interface along with your E120 or other MFD.
The Flux Gate compass is the vessel's immediate directional sensor
The Rudder position sensor is simply that, it senses the position of the rudders.
The GPS receiver provides current location, track, velocity, as well as general directional heading data.

As your ST8001 appears to indicate the system is operating nominally and there are no data errors then it appears the issue is centered around the hydraulic drive elements.

One important test is to measure the voltage going to the AP hydraulic pump when the system is operating; that is measured at the course computer where the pump wires are connected. You should get +12V and -12V depending what direction the system is driving the pump. No voltage then blown 40amp fuse or worse the system has a significant fault. Voltage good but pump not operating then an issue with the wiring to the pump or a problem with the pump it's self.
If your manual steering is working fine then there are no issues with the hydraulics, hoses, or rudder actuator.
 
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ttmott....can’t thank you enough for the detailed response. I can’t wait to get to the boat and track down this problem once and for all.
 
Ok, I've been behind my dash and discovered what is likely the problem with my Auto pilot! I pulled the head unit to find a sheared off wire which I assume plugs into the port on the back of the ST8002 head unit labeled "NMEA In + -" port using what appears to be spade or butt connectors??? Please have a look at these pics which clearly show my findings. Is the wire replaceable? What model wire is it? What does it attach to on the other end? (My E120 or the SG2 course computer itself) It's a mess of bound cables in there and I can't trace that sheared off wire without cutting a lot of zip ties...... HELP? Btw, I've also posted the same findings to Raymarine Tech forum as well just hoping for an answer from someone. Thanks
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We have the ST6002 controller on ours. The wiring options are the same as yours. Ours only has only the seatalk plug being used. The other ST tri plug is to daisy chain other ST devices like the ST series depth gauge etc.

According to the Smart Pilot Series commissioning guide (Raymarine document 81273-2, this is a generic version, my Volvo specific stuff is in a supplement) the spade connectors on the ST are for nmea instruments. Yeah I know, just what it says. But it also says the nmea0183 port can be used to connect to the Smartpilot computer. I‘ve read the document And there seems to be a lot of data on the nmea port I don’t have context to evaluate. So I’d suggest you get a copy. My general sense is the wires to the nmea port may be the disconnect between the autopilot and steering system.
 

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