Miele G1534 capacitor location

[LazW]

I recently got an F78 error on my Miele dishwasher. This is supposed to indicate a problem with the circulation pump. The error appeared at/near the end of the cycle (ran late at night, discovered error in morning but everything was clean), on an attempted rerun the error occurred immediately after the initial drain phase (about 2 mins into the program). Sounds like the motor tries to run for about 1 second and then stops with the error.

Combining ‘likely causes’ with ‘things I could realistically fix’ I narrowed it down to 2 things to check:

1. Something blocking the impeller
2. The motor run capacitor no longer working properly. (had the same once with a rangehood, and fixed with a new cap)

Unlike other models I’ve seen online it’s not possible (/easy) to try and manually turn the impeller within the dishwasher itself, so opted for disassembly.

I found a G1000/G2000 series service manual covering, obviously, a whole range of models including the G1530. This is almost very useful, however it shows the heating and circulation pump as so:

[IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:”none”,”data-size”:”full”,”src”:”https://i.imgur.com/ByKJly1.png”}[/IMG2]

Which is great, except in my G1534 there is no capacitor (6) attached to the pump, nor attached to the dishwasher frame next to it, nor visible actually anywhere inside it (without physically removing everything, but having a pretty good look around with a torch).

So my main question: does anyone know if they did away with a motor capacitor entirely, or is it hiding somewhere I can’t see it? I thought generally motor run capacitors were best placed close to the motor. The only indication I can see of capacitors is where the mains power comes in, there are 2 fairly small black blocks with labels indicating several capacitors. I would expect these to be related to input power conditioning rather than the motor.

Anyway, I unplugged the motor and pulled it out (no, no cap hiding behind it!), and at that point not knowing exactly what I was looking at/for I got to the impeller and found it didn’t turn easily and was making a noise like there was some rubbing (just turning it by hand). On further disassembly found some small plastic bits that seemed to be related to one of the parts, but not indicating a breakage. Removed those, put it back together and it turned better, reassembled everything and then the dishwasher ran through about 30 mins of its program before again stopping with F78.

Then, I found this thread, with a couple of interesting pictures down the bottom:

https://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/forum…st-miele-motor

This would seem to indicate the impeller is 1 piece, though actually 2 items plastic welded together. What I had in my hands was those 2 items separate, and the small plastic pieces were from the 10 welds running around the edge of the top piece. I suspect it stayed in place for a while after I assembled it, then after stopping during the program it went to start again and had moved out of position and caused friction again. So my next step is to disassemble and glue that top piece back in place.

That still leaves me not knowing what happened to the motor capacitor. I’d like to find and check it to rule it out.

Can anyone advise?

Thanks!

*(Edit: quick note and explanation: I am Australia based. I realise this can change the available model-specific information, however I have no reason to think whatever revision moved/removed the capacitor is specific to our market or this particular series, and our voltage is the same as nearly everywhere else including the UK, so I’ve posted in the general dishwasher section.)

[electrofix]

i have no model specific info on miele but a lot of manufacturers have changed from a capacitor start motor, that will only run at one speed, to a 3 phase motor, fed by an electronically generated variable frequency 3 phase supply, which allows then to alter the speed of the motor during use

Dave

[LazW]

electrofix wrote:i have no model specific info on miele but a lot of manufacturers have changed from a capacitor start motor, that will only run at one speed, to a 3 phase motor, fed by an electronically generated variable frequency 3 phase supply, which allows then to alter the speed of the motor during use

Ah, interesting. I had a better look and definitely can’t see what should be a decent size capacitor, so that makes sense. Unfortunately that does remove one potential cause and fix!

Cheers!

[electrofix]

have you read this ?

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/miele-g-1534-sc-g-1534-sci-g-1534-scu

Dave

[LazW]

electrofix wrote:have you read this ?

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/miele-g-1534-sc-g-1534-sci-g-1534-scu

Dave

Yep.

If you’re pointing me to the board and pump replacement, unfortunately this machine is 11 years old. I’ve read enough of Miele service to know that they’ll not be giving me anything free at this point, and any service visit (or repair!) is going to be costly. Given the age and potential other issues I’ll much more likely get a new machine if I can’t remedy it myself.

The confusing message there is the one about the technician ‘resetting’ the fault, then going away and having to do it again later – this fault doesn’t stay there after a machine restart. And my running it for 30 mins after taking it apart shows it’s not going to automatically go back to it.

Board is possible, though a little less likely given that it’s been fine for so long, and the fault timing is very consistent and seemingly unrelated to heat or power-on time. I’ll see how the impeller ‘repair’ goes once the glue has had some more time to set. Not optimistic, but hopeful!

[electrofix]

am pointing to the fact it seems like a common fault
is it the motor or a sensor like a pressure switch sensing if the motor is working ok

not sure miele info is hard to come by

seen stories of both board and pump changes not curing it

Dave

[LazW]

electrofix wrote:am pointing to the fact it seems like a common fault

Ah, fair enough. I tend to be wary of reports online because a small number of problems can gather in one place, and the error code is on the machine to catch something, but there might be something of a trend. From what I have gathered the F14 error was more common and was often due to the capacitor, so probably helps explain the design change there. Those same solutions tend to mention the motor itself being very solid, so I’m taking a punt it’ll be ok. The pressure switch is indeed a possibility and something I’ll consider if it continues.

As something of an update (which, being specific to me, is obviously of interest to me but less so for anyone finding this with the same error), I gave the glue a couple of days to cure and just ran an empty program to completion without error. So I’ll tempt fate and fill it with dirty dishes and see what it does then.

If I get through 3-5 programs without problem I’ll report back just for interest. The impeller position makes it coming apart seem a fairly unlikely event, but if there is enough room for the top part to separate and not be turned anymore that would certainly affect the pressure produced. I think any extra friction caused by it being slightly out of position is a less likely scenario, I imagine the motor can overcome that fairly easily.

[Author]

Posts