Neff Dishwasher not completing cycle

[NickS123]

I’m new to this so please forgive any omissions.

I have a Neff S5543X1GB/17 integrated dishwasher which has just stopped working. Symptoms are (on all programs): it drains, starts to fill and then stops. After a couple of minutes you can hear the flap on the soap dispenser open. Then the only other sign of life is an occasional low buzzing noise. I have left it for the approximate normal cycle time (1.5 hours) and nothing else happens. On opening the door there is a couple of litres of cold water in the machine.

I have searched online and have attempted to diagnose the fault but with no luck so far. I have also pulled the machine out and taken off the side panels and front kick plate.
– the aquastop and water inlet appear to be OK; the filter on the aquastop is clear.
– there don’t appear to be any blockages in the hoses draining from the sump and the pressure vessel appears to be clear of blockages.
– the chamber at the top left hand side of the water matrix (above the drainage tubes) is full of gunk; not sure whether this is relevant or not as the machine does drain OK.
– the machine seems to drain OK as I can lift up the float on the antiflood valve to drain the machine.
– the base of the machine is dry; no sign of any water leaking.
– after leaving the machine to “run” with nothing happening, the motor feels pretty hot.

Any pointers as to what the likely cause is would be much appreciated. As mentioned I have searched online but cannot find anything that seems to match.

I’m a reasonably handy DIY’er but no expert, so I’m hoping the fault may be something easy that I can fix. The machine is getting on for 19 years old so I’m also a little reluctant to spend large sums on call-outs or new parts.

Many thanks.

[electrofix]

sounds like the main wash motor is not starting for some reason

you need to check it first

Dave

[NickS123]

Thanks Dave.

This may be getting beyond my level of expertise…..

Apart from getting very hot the motor doesn’t seem to be doing anything. The wire coil is not rotating. I did check that it does move freely with the power off.
Can you give any pointers as to what I should check?

Looks like a new motor costs something over £140 so plus fitting, as I’m not sure I can do it myself, this is perhaps not economically viable to repair.

Nick.

[tubafan]

If the motor is free with the power off but is humming and getting hot when powered it sounds like it could be a failed motor capacitor. If so it should be quite cheap to fix.

[electrofix]

this motor looks like it may be capacitor start. if so it may be the capacitor has failed ( or the motor )

looks like its 5uF so this may replace it

https://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/cap05-dishwasher-and-tumble-dryer-5uf-capacitor

you would need to check if it has one , and your may be silver , then decide if its worth the gamble. if you called an engineer he would fit one to test it and only charge for the part if it cured the fault

Dave

[NickS123]

It definitely has a capacitor and it is the one (5uf) you identified Dave.

The capacitor is also getting very hot and I forgot to mention before that there is also a “hot” smell like you get from a hot iron.

For the price of the “alternative part” its got to be worth a go at replacing the capacitor. Also looks pretty easy to replace it myself.
The genuine Neff part is a bit more (£26), and from the image may be a bit longer in size but from a visual inspection I think the alternative capacitor will fit.
Does it matter that the alternative capacitor appears to have three electrical connectors whereas the Neff original only has two?

Thanks to Dave and tubafan.

[electrofix]

no the replacement has 2 terminals but there are 2 connections on each one, so it looks like 4

Dave

[NickS123]

To close the loop – just want to confirm that I fitted a new capacitor today and the dishwasher now works perfectly. So well worth the £5 cost and much less than calling out an engineer.

Thanks again for your help.

Nick.

[tubafan]

That’s great, thanks for letting us know. 🙂

[davemfox]

This sounds very similar to what our Neff is doing too (S5453X1GB). Sorry to hijack the original thread – would the same capacitor work on ours?

Regards,

Dave

[electrofix]

your unit does seem to have a capacitor

all you would have to do is find it and look at its value

what fault have you got. if cap has gone the wash motor should be trying to turn but not managing it
if the motor is not energised then it cant be the cap

Dave

[davemfox]

Hi Dave,

I’ve not pulled it out of the integrated unit yet. Symptoms are pretty much as per the original OP post.

No error messages, no water in coming but when the pump well in the bottom of the machine is filled with water it tries to empty it. No abnormal noises. No obvious blockages anywhere. No leaks anywhere. It doesn’t complete it’s cycle.

Regards,

Dave

[electrofix]

well if its not taking water thats where you need to look
could be an inlet valve problem

Dave

[davemfox]

Just taken the capacitor out – it’s been leaking it’s contents. It’s a 10uF – do you have any of those in stock?

Dave

[electrofix]

https://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/3068016-washing-machine-tumble-dryer-dishwasher-10uf-capacitor

not sure about stock you need to ask the shop as i am over 200 miles away and have no stock access

Dave

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