Siemens WD54010GB/01 Short circuit damage

Hi everyone,
Just thought I’d post my recent experiences with the above machine which may help others in the future.
This is a very old Siemens Model but, since spares are still available, on we go 🙂

I recently replaced the Motor, at great expense of course, but though that, after 22 years of washing for a family of five, the old one owed me nothing. And, it was the motor and not just the brushes which had already been replaced previously.
Anyway, I must have routed the wire from the door interlock badly on re-assembly (Damned Amateurs) and it was rubbing on the drum weights. That was three months ago and, a few days ago all the power in the house tripped! Ho oh!
On investigation I found the RCD unit attached to the plug where my machine is attached was tripped (I have this because the machine is in an out building alone) So, I reset the trip and switched the machine back on.
BANG and a flash out of the front left hand side of the machine.
Dead, the machine not me! 🙂

So off came the top, the back and the front and I quickly diagnosed the shorting wire which had worn through in two places and there was a big black mark on the drum weight.
I traced this wire back to the Power control unit which is on the floor of the machine and is also pretty hefty and expensive looking (£ 236.30) ON examination I found a lot of charring at the back of this unit behind the Power Relay and a large section of track blown clean off! Aha…the fault?
A quick search on Ebay dug up qer_ltd who repair these things quite reasonably and have already done my Dishwasher control module.
They don’t actually advertise this particular model but I though it was worth a try a sentiment with which they agreed.
I had also noted that the Door Interlock remained locked after the short and so assumed that this too had been damaged! After all, it’s supposed to open once power is removed? I ordered a replacement door interlock and sent the Power control module off for repair. And waited.

Yesterday the Power board arrived back along with the new door interlock and I set about replacing these bits. Thought I would try the old door switch first since there appeared to be nothing wrong with it when I stripped it.. Once I had fought the jungel of wires carefully back into place (Digital Photos are a great idea here) I hung the front panel temporarily and reconnected the door switch.
Plugged in and switched on……!

Nothing…Still dead.

I assumed at this point that my 22 year association with this washer drier was over.

Then, for some unknown reason I checked the power switch/selector knob. I had continuity through two out of four terminals only and, with power applied, only 5.4 volts coming from the end leading to the Power control PCB…This is not right I thought…but wasn’t really sure because I guess this coould have been a small control voltage to throw the relay over? I don’t know, I am not an electrical engineer, nor am I a Washing Machine repair person.
I had a quick chat with Keith and Paul at the Ebay place who repaired my module and confirmed that there should, indeed, be 240 VAC coming out of this switch to power the Control Board.

So, I removed the selector switch and note that it looks as if it is designed to be opened!
I opened it….!
Mistake…don’t do this people! I had a pile of springs, levers and a small detent ball lying on my bench with no clue as to where they went and why. I did however manage to confirm that the switch had been damaged also, two of the four contact pads with in it has also been burned off and were failing to meet. Luckily Siemens still have one for sale so I am now the proud owner of that.

IN the meantime, I did actually manage to get the old switch back together, all except the small detent ball which proved too fiddly but which I think I could get back in if I had to. I reassembled the switch anyway to test my theory. I now have continuity through all four terminals in the on position and none of them in the off position. I do not have any selector positions though 🙂

Putting the switch back in place confirmed that this had been the problem and the machine fired up immediately. The Door Interlock locked and the power lights came on. Cand test anything else until my new switch comes.

I’m guessing I could have used the old switch but suspect there would be a risk of fire given that the contacts are very badly damaged so, for £30 I choose replacement.

Anyway, I often get inspiration from forum posts when I am trying to diagnose and repair my “stuff” Occasionally I feel moved to post about my success stories. This may be useful to someone in the future as a general “What can go wrong” type of thing if not specifically for this model since it’s so old and probably only a few left in service.

There’s a huge pile of washing waiting for it to do 🙂

Regards all

James Pirie
Scotland