Zanussi Electrolux DA 6142 – won’t progress through cycle

[Wooday]

Re: Zanussi Electrolux DA 6142 – won’t progress through cycl

Thanks Penguin for your detailed advice and patience.

It would be great to pronounce a “Eureka” moment, with it all sorted, but unfortunately not.

Yet, anyway…

The two pipes you speak of had almost no sludge at all. In all the cleaning I did today of pipes, etc, I found remarkably little sludge. You saw the IWMS had no black deposits. I think this must be credit to my wife’s insistence that plates are rinsed before insertion.

So I removed the matrix (power off), and examined the switches. I removed the switches and blew into the holes and could hear the clicking – I think this would mean that they are working? I checked the wiring and believe all connections okay.

I set up the machine again and it sounds again to me that it is trying to drain, though there is no water to drain. So strange. I really thought this flood prevention switch would be the culprit… 😕

Wooday

[Penguin45]

Re: Zanussi Electrolux DA 6142 – won’t progress through cycl

Oh dear. Not really much else I can tell you, I’m afraid. You seem to have covered all the basics, so time for the pros?

Use the repairs@ link below for a UKW engineer in your area.

Penguin45.

[Wooday]

Re: Zanussi Electrolux DA 6142 – won’t progress through cycl

Thanks Penguin for getting involved with my dishwasher problem.

Having come so far I am reluctant to give up just yet, and will probably tinker for a bit yet, trying to find out about the electrical aspects of the system where the problem most likely lies. If I need a meter to test I will get one.

I don’t feel I can outright ask for any advice on this when you have been so helpful and I respect that you may have reached a limit on how far you can go on this forum.

It only remains for me to say that I appreciate your help and wish you the best.

Wooday 😀

[Wooday]

Re: Zanussi Electrolux DA 6142 – won’t progress through cycl

Hello Again

A Eureka moment at last! 😀

I seem to have my finger on the problem (not literally – it’s electrical).

It’s really odd.

I thought Penguin in particular might be interested to know.

The door close/latch switch appears to have reversed polarity. With the latch disconnected but the door closed (carefully), the machine fills and runs as normal – the entire cycle! When the door has closed the machine will not work but drain.

I certainly won’t do this, but it looks exactly as though if I reversed the polarity on the switch I would have the machine functioning perfectly again! 😮

It seems like the switch rather than the timer because the machine works perfectly otherwise.

Wooday

[MrCookie]

Re: Zanussi Electrolux DA 6142 – won’t progress through cycl

Did you disconnect the wiring on door switch at anytime, because seems a rather odd thing for the door switch to do.

Simon

[Wooday]

Re: Zanussi Electrolux DA 6142 – won’t progress through cycl

It does seem odd.

Having taken out the microswitch that is the culprit I can clarify my earlier post. Reversing the polarity (switching the wires around between the two poles) makes no difference – I should have realised that!!!

The microswitch has somehow changed from “normally closed” to “normally open” which is really odd. It is a bit blackened on one end, indicating that it has blown in some way, probably someone opened the door just before the cycle had ended, causing the fault.

However, the door catch is designed to hold the button on the switch down until the door closes, at which point the button is released. So if you can get your head round this logic (no mean feat), when the door closes, the button is released, allowing the switch to go into its normal state – closed, allowing the cycle to begin.

In its faulty state the switch will only let the cycle begin if the door is open, so I can wash the dishes if I don’t mind flooding the kitchen at the same time, leaving the door open!

How did I discover this? If you read my post on 11 feb I couldn’t understand why my machine suddenly worked, then didn’t. I retraced my steps and realised that I had detached the door catch while I had the “front (panel) off”. With the door held closed it worked perfectly! The solution was right under my nose but I didn’t spot it at the time!

I don’t doubt Penguin45 or any other moderator here could have found this problem out, but I realise that the danger of electricity as a killer would make it a policy against specifically encouraging people to look at these things. The important thing is NO live testing, except for observation. Better safe than sorry.

Wooday 🙂

[Wooday]

Re: Zanussi Electrolux DA 6142 – won’t progress through cycl

Hello Again

You may remember me. Penguin45 was a great help in February, which was very appreciated.

The replacement microswitch worked a treat until this week, when it blew again. (Investigations in family to find who opened the door while the machine was running…). 😕

However, I am wondering if I had the specification of the switch right, e.g how many amps it is to take!

I know the one I was using was for 250V, but I would be grateful if someone could check for me what the spec is for amps on the door microswitch on the Zanussi DA 6142. Or perhaps advise me where to look to get this information.

Many thanks. Your help is much appreciated.

Gerry

[Wooday]

Re: Zanussi Electrolux DA 6142 – won’t progress through cycl

Hello
I have replaced the microswitch with a standard one, 15A rating. I replaced spade connection which needed it. The switch is now working fine, but something else must have blown – likely at the same time – as there is no improvement. Same symptoms as before…
Have multimeter. Power disconnected. Will investigate.
Gerry 😕

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