MALFUNCTIONING FLIGHT DIRECTOR ON AN MD80 WAS DISCOVERED PRIOR TO FLT. ALTHOUGH THE DISCREPANCY WAS NOT BE DEFERRABLE; IT WAS MAINT'S DESIRE TO OPERATE THE FLT WITHOUT DOCUMENTING THE DISCREPANCY.

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DURING MY COCKPIT CHKS FOR THE FIRST FLT OF THE DAY; I OBSERVED THE FO'S PFD TO BE MALFUNCTIONING. THE FLT DIRECTOR COMMAND BARS WERE ERRATICALLY MOVING (REDISPLAYING) ON THE SCREEN AND LINES WERE APPEARING AND DISAPPEARING ON THE PFD WITH A FREQ OF APPROX 3 TIMES PER SECOND. I NOTIFIED THE CAPT AND MAINT (VIA OPS) OF THE MALFUNCTION. AFTER APPROX 30 MINS; THE MECH DETERMINED (WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF TECHNICIAN) THAT THE FO'S SYMBOL GENERATOR WAS THE PROB AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED IN ORDER TO DISPATCH THE ACFT FOR FLT. AFTER REACHING THAT CONCLUSION; THE CAPT WAS ON HIS CELL PHONE WITH A REPRESENTATIVE FROM MAINT. HE (THE CAPT) HANDED ME HIS CELL PHONE AND SAID; 'THEY WANT TO TALK TO YOU.' THE MAINT REPRESENTATIVE IDENTED HIMSELF AND EXPLAINED TO ME THAT THE SYMBOL GENERATOR NEEDED TO ADEQUATELY REPLACE OUR BROKEN ONE IS AT ZZZ1 AND THEN ASKED IF I DID NOT HAVE A PROB WITH USING THE FAULTY SYMBOL GENERATOR FOR THE CAPT'S DISPLAY AND FLYING IT TO ZZZ1. I FIRST ASKED IF THIS WOULD BE A MAINT FERRY FLT. HE SAID WE WOULD BE TAKING THE PAX ON BOARD WITH US. I ASKED IF THE CAPT AGREED TO THIS. HE SAID YES. I THEN ASKED; 'HOW CAN WE LEGALLY FLY AN ACFT WITH PAX AND A MALFUNCTIONING SYMBOL GENERATOR; WHICH IS A GROUNDING ITEM?' HE SAID; 'IF IT ISN'T IN THE BOOK; IT'S NOT BROKEN.' I TOLD HIM THAT I REFUSE TO FLY THE ACFT UNDER THOSE CONDITIONS AND HE SAID THAT THEY WILL FLY THE COMPONENT FROM ZZZ1 TO REPLACE THE BROKEN ONE. AFTER CLOSE TO 2 HRS; THE DISPLAY WAS NORMAL AND THE MECH SIGNED OFF THE LOGBOOK ENTRY TO ALLOW THE ACFT TO BE DISPATCHED FOR FLT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE REPORTER STATED THAT ALTHOUGH AN ALTERNATE SYMBOL GENERATOR IS AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION; THE MALFUNCTIONING UNIT CANNOT BE DEFERRED. IT IS FOR THIS REASON THAT THE REPORTER INSISTED THAT THE MALFUNCTION BE CORRECTED. WHILE AWAITING THE REPLACEMENT UNIT; THE COMPONENT BEGAN WORKING NORMALLY; AND THE FLT DEPARTED.