The nav screen in my '06 DB9 hadn't been opening for the past year, and as I'm in the process of adding front and reversing cameras for parking assist, I decided to take care of the screen, too.
Most owners know about the likely failure of the two plastic gears in the mechanism and the easy and inexpensive replacement procedure. But there is ANOTHER possible cause, and it's not obvious.
One of the other gear components has an internal clutch consisting of two friction washers and pressure plates with a spring, and those friction washers can become contaminated with grease or damaged due to hand-opening the screen. That component does not appear to be available as a replacement part, BUT IT IS REPAIRABLE!
After thoroughly cleaning the friction washers and facing surfaces with soap, water, and an old toothbrush and finishing up with isopropyl alcohol, my screen still didn't open reliably. So I opened the mechanism up one more time and used a toothpick to "dot" the surfaces of the washers with GE silicone sealant. After letting the silicone dry for 24 hours, I reassembled the geartrain and reinstalled the unit, and voila! it now opens smoothly and reliably every time.
Kudos to Bassman12, who discovered the slipping clutch problem and posted it here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/...t=1194410&i=20
I suspect that every Gaydon car that has this nav screen mechanism will experience this problem eventually as very few of us are first owners and we can't expect that everyone (detailers, valets, family members...) will never force the screen open by hand. I'm sure that the friction surfaces can be repaired or replaced in many ways, so the important thing to know is that they are there.

 

Cleaning my clutch friction surface seems to have resolved My problem

 

Great info. Thanks!

 

I had the same issue and considered some type of glue between the clutch plates. My concern was that it would slip sometime in the future, so I "pinned" the clutch parts together.


https://bernardembden.com/am/navmotor/index.htm