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Random Quote: Once you go Cat you'll never go back (Eliot - nana's couch 2 GB2670)
I have a RM 5000 auto pilot on a 28 Grady white. Worked great for over a year and about 500 hours of hard use.
Now it is acting up.
!. when you engage Auto the boat takes a sharp 90 degree tuern to the right.
2. when engaged the motors wag back and forth like a dogs tail.
3. while fishing this weekend in the keys, the course over ground and heading all of a sudden varied by about 90 degrees.This cleared up when I re swung the compass. other problems remained ie, sharp turns when engaged and motors wagging.
Sent the head unit back to Raytheon and it checked out 100%.
I have reset all the inputs 100 times, rudder gain, damping etc. nothing helps.
Question. Has any one else had problems like this . What are your suggestions for trouble shooting.
At this point I am thinking about sending in the Rudder position unit and fluxgate compass back to Raytheon.
I have the same unit on my Grady. It could be one of several things. Since you have reset the damping and gain it's probably not that. Two other things come to mind.
One is something metallic/magnetic has been placed near the fluxgate compass, and is throwing the unit off.
Two, there is a small black plastic encased magnet on the ram of the steering by the outboards. It should be secured with a clamp, but mine came loose (luckily it fell into the splashwell) and caused similar problems to what you are describing.
If those don't solve your problem you can go to the Raymarine website; they have a question and answer section where you can search previous questions, or submit a new one. They are pretty good about posting replies within 24-48 hours. I've also had good service when calling, though that was for info when I was buying new product.
Please let us know the final resolution in case I ever have the same problem.
Sailfish's suggestion to contact Raymarine via their website is the best advice you can get at this point. I recently had a similar problem with my 5000+. They helped me to isolate the problematic component. In my case it was the rudder feedback unit. I sent it in to them, they found an intermittent short inside, and repaired it for a nominal fee. (I was a few months out of the 2-year warranty) It's back on the boat now, and seems to be working fine.
Send it back, and include the rudder position sensor, because that's where the problem likely is. Oh, and to answer your question, no, you are not alone. This is not an uncommon failure for the Raytheon (Ray Marine) units, not uncommon at all.
Thom
"The amount S&P 500 corporations owe to their employee's retirement benefits plans for which they have set aside no funds: $458,000,000,000"
Everybody is on top of this problem. These units are notorious problems on all Autopilots, not just Raymarine. Except for a unit made by teleflex that uses magnetic coupling and electronic position sensing, all use the same old slide-wire potentiometer system. The continuous wear (whether you are using the autopilot or not) evetually causes the slider to bounce across the slide-wire producing erratic voltages to the control head.
If you have to replace the unit, investigate the one made by teleflex. It is compatible with the T5000 as well as all Simrads.
RayMarine 5000 auto pilot problems. 
