absolutely nothing. It was difficult to turn - crappy cheapo bearings or incorrect lubricant is my guess. I stripped it down and re-applied a bit of oil and it was running free. I know it works as the first thing the machine did when I turned it on was run the pump. That's before it went doolally and started smoking. Will probably call zanussi servicing person now and they can sort this mess out. Looking on the web I reckon at least £100 for a new control module, though I can't find one for my specific machine... Then there's the £60+vat labour... :O(
E51 That is Triac which powers the motor is short-circuited (Triac short-circuit cut-out activated on main pcb controller) Loss of insulation on main pcb. All cycles blocked with door closed after 5 attempts.
Are you a zanussi engineer?! Yea the door lock is activated. So assuming this is the problem - is the controller PCB serviceable? I could always pull it out and have a visual inspection. Clean off any of the conditioner I think may have got in there and try again. Perhaps more strange is that after I run the engineering mode, as soon as I power off then on, it starts some kind of wash cycle - motor running, pump pumping etc but beeping every second - this seems contrary to a short on the motor triac? At this point it won't let me do anything. Once I power the machine again it's back to the same state - door locked, wash cycle selection working fine, but it refuses to start (or unlock the door). I'll try and strip out the unit tomorrow night and have a look inside. Is there any way I can test components with the board out of the machine and not powered on? Don't suppose you have a circuit diagram or know where i could get one. If it's just a problem on the power drive side of the circuit, triacs are quite cheap. I might be able to service it... Thanks again, Matt
you can test each component in engineers mode which will flash an error where it fails.
go into engineers mode as before by pressing start/pause and skip/reset simultaneously turn on machine hold the two buttons down until buzzer sounds. At this stage leds light in sequence now 1/ press the fabrics butto n top led lights machine fills main wash compartment 2/ press fabrics fills prewash 3/ press fabrics fills fabric conditioner 4/ press fabrics hot water fill (if fitted) 5/press fabrics heating 6/ press temp motor drum 250rpm tests motor 7/ press temp drain and spin max speed and test pressure switches 8/ press temp test drying components
important To reset machine from engineers mode turn off then on then off again
So i suggest you do this and see if it fails the motor test good luck
Hi Peter, thanks for all the help. I can get into engineers mode, but when I press fabrics, I can cycle through the various options (different wash light light up), but nothing else happens - just E51 or EE0 on the display and a 1 second beep. The machine always starts filling the main wash after first power cycle. When in eng mode and I press temp button, I get 0-0 on display and by pressing it repeatedly I can cycle through 0-1 0-2 etc. A hidden LED below all the others also lights at times. No matter what I press during engineering mode though, the machine doesn't do anything - do I need to press anything else to start the test? It doesn't seem to matter what I have pressed but after first power cycle it always does the same thing with filling the main wash and rotating the drum back and forth. Cheers, Matt
Hi Peter, This may possibly sound wierd but the machine seems to be getting better - maybe! I just turned it on now to attempt another diagnosis and it came on just like normal. I could then select a wash cycle and set it going. At this point it correctly locked the door and 'tried' to start the fill process. I heard the valve release just briefly before closing again and the machine stopping where it was. I tried a new wash cycle and it did exactly the same thing again. the saga continues... Matt
If it is not possible to access the diagnostics it appears then that the pcb is damaged, it is held in by one screw at the top all the plugs at the side are keyed so will only fit back one way just make a note of the wires in the front especially the single black one as this can go back in one of two positions. Replacement boards are blank as they are universal and need to be configured or programed to your model of machine this is complicated so you may need a zanussi engineer your configuration code which is on your existing pcb box and is made up of 16 alphanumeric digits.
He does - sounds like his PCB is recovering more function as it dries, but he'd be well-advised to take it right out, wash well with water and rinse with distilled water to get the hell rid of the fabric conditioner or whatever other gunge got spilt and will, if left, slowly corrode away PCB tracks and knacker electrolytics. After a good wash it should be left to dry out fully (airing cupboard ideal) before replacement - you want any moisture trapped underneath components to evaporate away too.
And both of you could make the thread less of a pain to follow by
*snipping*. Bottom posting is definitely the right way to go, but doing so while relentlessly including - at ever-increasing quoting level - the entire preceeding exchange undermines its usefulness.
It hasn't actually had a fault in 18 months, apart from two processor aberrations though has it?
Strange how these things vary. I have a 20 year old Zanussi that wants replacing for aesthetic reasons, but refuses to break down or misbehave in any way.
Don't the fridge contents make a mess if it has no floor?
Anything with a processor control is going to lock up once in a while. All it takes to reset it is to disconnect from the mains, which appears to be why your other two "faults" cleared by themselves. Whatever you buy will be no different.
pissed off, delayed and mucked about I imagine. If I lost a used machine costing 65 I'd shrug and go get another one, same day or next day. There are enough immaculate 2 yo machines about, and washing machine technology is a slow moving field.
I wonder. The bathtub curve tells us that most failures are in the early days and at end of life, the failure rate between those times is much lower. So by buying second hand one avoids the early high failure rate altogether, but the late onset of high failure rate comes 2 years sooner. I dont know what the numbers are, but I would have thought that used machines were just as reliable as new - as long as theyre recent and in good condition when bought. The fact that when buying used you can get a better make for your money will affect the reliability positively as well.
But for me what really decides it is the repair process. Nearly all machines break down one day, what happens then? With a used machine I evaluate it next day, and either fix it or dump it and go buy another. Downtime 2 days. With a new machine covered by warranties there is an emotional tie there that means I'm not going to just sling it, I'm going to chase the manufacturer or supplier... it takes many days, is ntohing but aggro, and I may or may not get a satisfactory result. Downtime: 1 week plus, plus aggro.
You know - your strategy might be worth considering. Next time mine blows up (and my hopes aren't high), I'll be looking for the two year old, 1 previous elderly owner, low mileage etc :)
SNIP broken machine ya de ya de rant etc amateur taking machine apart making things worse.... SNIP :O)
By some miracle the machine is working. I figured if I left it be for 24 hours it would dry out (my kitchen is quite warm). Fingers crossed it keeps working! It just completed a 'quick' cycle followed by a normal cotton cycle - both bcak to normal I kind of feel like taking some of my annoyance at Zanussi back - for the circuit to survive an electrical short (or several) it must have been built with a pertty good level of short circuit protection in mind. (assuming the smoke was the conditioner burning off and not a power semiconductor - fingers crossed) Anyway - I'll see how much longer it goes till something else goes or the pump jams again. I'll be tipping the thing in the other direction if I need to get at the pump again. Is it possible to obtain a circuit diagram of the controller? If the power side does fail down the line due to the stress it's had, it would be very helpful if I could get hold of the circuit diagram. Years ago I got one for my panasonic ghetto blaster and manged to diagnose a failed power chip and 3 blown electronic fuses. Cost me £15 in parts but is still going strong 10 years on. I shouldn't really have tried hooking it up to the car battery whilst camping... :O) One last thing - does the power button on the front isolate the machine? I want ot cut power to the controller module when I'm not around just in case... Massive thanks to everyone who helped me out - particularly Peter. Matt
Super! You now have a judgment call to make: leave well alone, hoping that the PCB will continue working fine (but running the risk that odd deposits from the fabric conditioner will knacker sthg delicate over the next month or six; a lowish risk, I'd guess, since fabric conditioner isn't full of particularly corrosive/aggressive chemicals, AFAIK); or run the risk of screwing sthg up while doing the "proper" rinse-n-dry thing. Your choice!
I doubt it's the very first port of call for the incoming volts. If you want to be sure of cutting power except when its in use, the switch by the plug is your reliable friend (or FCU above worktop if that's the way the socket's been set up in your kitchen).
I think we went through that argument in another thread a week or two ago about dp switches above worktops :) So yes turn it off there thats whats it for lol
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