Zanussi FJ1296 Door won’t open at end of cycle

[Andy3D]

Hi,
I’ve been trying to repair my elderly mother’s Zanussi FJ1296 washing machine and failed at the initial attempts. Unfortunately she lives 4 hours drive away. Any
suggestions prior to my next visit would be appreciated.

It’s a Type P6297236 Prod 91478750201.
Symptoms – The door had been taking longer & longer e.g. 30 mins (over a period of months) to open at end of cycle, and eventually wouldn’t open at all. I think it was still locked when the main on/off pushbutton was pushed off but I found a way to beat it at power up.
The machine did seem to fill/sequence/empty correctly otherwise (but I can’t be sure yet).

Checks I did:
Cleaned out a quite a lot of fabric bits/ gunk from waste water filter.
Confirmed door problem with a rinse (freshen) cycle – neon “door locked” indicator stayed on at end.
Removed black hose from spigot on sump? pressure chamber to door interlock – Not blocked but split at lower end. Probed down spigot with cable tie – seemed clear.
Decided to obtain replacement hose but hard to find anything suitable these days. Ended up with suitable ID hose but expensive long length of hi-temp silcon type but it didn’t cure the problem. It is quite possible that I had split the original hose when trying to remove the spring clamp due to difficult access and too small pliers 🙁 .

Next I removed the door interlock (3 terminal – type BP P/S, T85) and tried to test it, both disconnected and live (placed on cardboard sheet on top of the machine). I measured 1.2K between terminals 3 & 5 (4?). After connectors refitted and power on it measured 240VAC (L) on 5, and 0VAC (N) on 3 & 4 when the “door locked” indicator (separately wired) was on. Same voltages measured with respect to incoming mains cable connection block.
The effect of blowing into the pressure connection seemed only to move an approx 3mm dia pin out of the interlock’s body to prevent the unlock? position of the mechanical latch.
At that time I was guessing that the terminals on the interlock were either connected to internal contacts (to indicate whether it was in the open or closed positions), or
fed power to solenoid(s) to move the latch. Now I know that it is most likely to be a bimetallic strip working in the interlock.
Anyway I decided to buy a new replacement interlock but it didn’t cure the fault and seemed to respond in exactly the same way 🙁 .

Next I checked the 3 top mounted pressure switches by blowing into their hose connectors, hearing a click and measuring a contact change on each. Then I ran out of time.

Now I don’t know what to try next. When I repaired my own Hotpoint washing machine I was able to glean enough info from a WMA series repair guide I downloaded from the web (paid for, not pirated!) but I can’t find anything useful online for this older machine.

Unfortunately I don’t have the time during occassional weekend visits to figure out how the machine/ interlock works from first principles/ tracing wires.
Also my mother would rather go to a washeteria than have a professional in to fix it due to unknown cost and no-one supportive there to keep an eye on things.

Thanks for your time reading this and for any help.
Andy

[iadom]

Re: Zanussi FJ1296 Door won’t open at end of cycle

Take the pressure hose off the door interlock and block the end of the hose and try the machine again.

If it works then it suggests that the chamber at the opposite end of the interlock pressure hose is gunged up, a very common fault on old Zanussi machines and very difficult to clean out as well.

[Alex]

Re: Zanussi FJ1296 Door won’t open at end of cycle

Timer fault, unless turned off at the mains will never unlock. Symptoms was very common on that model.

Make sure you get the right one, there was an early and late.

Alex

[iadom]

Re: Zanussi FJ1296 Door won’t open at end of cycle

Thanks for that Alex, I should have mentioned that a badly blocked pressure chamber would have also led to severe overfilling. 😳

[Author]

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