Indesit 1263W Washing Machine Problems

[badkarma]

Hello there, I'm a newbie so please bear with me - also, to who it may concern - GREAT WEBSITE !!!

OK, I have an Indesit Washing Machine 1263W and its 10 years old and still going strong - well it was until last friday

Problem is it only wants to spin *REALLY FAST* - when I program it for a number 4, it should fill half up with water (which it does) and then perform gentle rotations clockwise and anti clockwise with pauses inbetween, but recently it insists on the attitude of "if I am going to rotate the drum, I'll do it as fast a possible without any gradual spin up!" - so it spins really fast clockwise and then really fast anticlockwise.

This causes the washing machine to bounce around as its got a lot of water in at this point ... it should only spin really fast when its got no (or hardly any) water in it.

History of machine is ...

Was good for 7 years then I replaced the bushes on the motor. Then ran perfectly for another year and a half when ...

It started making groaning noises - at which point I changed the bearings - and has been running fine since, up to now.

I have two main suspects (although no diagnosis yet ... - one is the motor but it seems healthy enough for a fast spin - unless "a bit" of it has gone.

The other main suspect is the Speed Control Unit (ELMARC EM 13 SFB ... I think 1200) - I have checked this also and seems in reasonable cosmetic condition but cannot be sure of component operation.

Any ideas why it just wants to sping really fast all the time instead of gentle spins for the wash and no gradual spin up to full rinse speed?

A bit loathed to shell out £50 for a Speed Control Unit or motor unless I know which one has gone for definite ...

The machine has been used DAILY for 10 years for a family of 4 and I would have no hesitation in buying another Indesit, but christmas is coming and would really hope to stretch it out till next year

Many thanks for any suggs.

Steve.

 

[breezer]

the mtor control has no idea what the motor is doing unless the tacho magnet tells it.

if the tacho magnet has come off / broke, broken tacho wire this will cause your problem.

the tacho magnet sits on the opposite end of the motor from the pulley, but still on the drive shaft. being as its a magent, it may have come off and be stuck to something metal in the m/c or indeed the side of the m/c

if you look here you can see the yellow wires going to the tacho on my hotpoint

 

[badkarma]

Thanks for the reply Breezer ... !

OK, I've got my motor off again and checked out the bit I think you are talking about but it seems ok ... please see pics ...

and ...

Does it look OK? If so, could it be a component on the Speed Control Module which checks for this? Anything else to check?

Many thanks for your help.

Steve

++++++++++++++++++

Hello ... another thought ... I have a digital multimeter ... not that I'm a leccy expert - I normally use it for my car - testing 12v etc - is there a method I can use to check the white wiring giving it a manual spin on the pulley end to see if anything registers on the meter etc?

 

[breezer]

sorry for the delay, just had a bite to eat, and took pictures of my tacho.

unfortunately, yours looks fine, i take it the magnet is secure to the shaft?

also as i mentioned the tacho connection wires / plug (white in your case) are they secure?

if they are i would suggest its motor control board, but there may be a difference of opinion, i only worked on HP m/c

nice pics by the way, i left mine in situ

 

[badkarma]

Thank you for the reply again ... yes the white wires are secure ...

Also ... forgot to mention something ... i will tell it in chrono order - probably best ...

1) After washers initial bouncing about (and a scared half to death missus) I pulled machine out and retensioned belt ...
2) Put washer back in place and retested . it then did same thing and then I saw a small flash of blue under washer (as I was sitting in front of it ...) and after that, drum would not spin but would fill and empty as normal ...
3) At this point I thought - uhoh - its a gonner - and left it till the next morning, thinking of trips to Comet / Currys...
4) Then I surfed the net and found a post somewhere saying about the speed control module burning out and it may be possible to bypass the burned out pcb ... especially on indesit ... (didnt know the thing existed before this as it was "hidden" under the base of the machine behind a metal floor sill).
5) Got the speed control unit out and noticed that there were no burned out bits (although a couple of soldered joints were slightly blackened where resistors were soldered to the board ...
6) But what I did notice though was that there was a 5A 250V fuse that had blown. It is a small glass type fuse and seeing as I had none to spare I found a normal bit bigger 5A 250v plug type fuse which fit in quite well (will replace with a glass one if I ever get it working again )
7) After putting fuse in and wrapping it all back up again, the drum span again (woohoo) but not variable speed - so I was then back to the original problem ...

So this is where I am now ...

May think of ringing round some local places tomorrow for a SCM or perhaps looking at local recycle centre to see if I get lucky with a same make / model unless theres anything else I can test.

Thank you for all your help so far

Any more comments greatly appreciated ...

Best regards.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

... magnet is also secure

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[breezer]

put it this way, now i know the fuse went in the first place, i would suggest that motor control board has blown, although fuses are meant to protect things they are not always quick enough.

as for testing tacho, first put your dmm onto ohms you should get some low resistance reading if you connect it to tacho wires.

then change dmm to volts dc and spin shaft you should get something (not much but something)

 

[badkarma]

Hi again,

When I set my DMM to 200 Ohms, the reading is 179.3

When I set my DMM to 200 VDC and spin - nothing
When I set my DMM to 20VDC and spin - nothing
When I set my DMM to 2VDC and spin it registers 0.01 to 0.08

Does this sound about right for connections to be OK?

Thanks again.

 

[breezer]

as i said you will get something, even a small something.

the reason its so small is because you are not spining it fast enough, but the resitance reading and the voltage you did get suggest its working fine, which is unfortunate

 

[badkarma]

Thanks Breezer for the time taken to reply. I will now try to find a cheap SCM. Will let you know if I get one and if it works

 

[fido]

It sounds like there are shorted turns in the motor armature and this has blown the triac in the module. If you need a new motor and a module repair you may be better off just buying a new machine. Unfortunately, the current offerings from Indesit are nothing like as reliable as your present machine so my advice would be to look at Zanussi or Bosch. I assume you checked the brushes? as they will also cause your observed blue flash if they are only just making contact.

 

[badkarma]

Thanks Fido,

I am at work now and have the SCM with me. Just about to start ringing round for spares...

But, you mention "shorted turns" in the motor armature... is there anything I can do to check this? What am I looking for / will I be able to get to it?

Also, is a triac the small black square chap (labelled T1 on the PCB near the fuse) with three legs (with MAC15 9513 written on it) which attaches to the side of the metal shield cover with a screw?

Theres also a huge grey/white resistor on the board which looks a bit dodgy also ... (R17)

There is a good goldmine of a shop called Goodwins in Wigan and the owner is a bit of a ninja on electrical components so I might pop over there after ... he normally gets his meter out and has a poke around

Thanks for the reply ... keep em coming... I am making it my mission in life to repair it this week ...

Bit of a weird one really in that on the internet and all forums, i hear of probs of peoples washers either turning slowly but not fast or just not spinning at all but never seen my exact prob on the internet or forums in that it just wants to spin really fast (even when it should turn slowly)...

Anyway, I have learned more about washers this weekend thanks to you chaps.

Keep em coming...

Best regards,

Steve

 

[badkarma]

Addition to my previous post ... just took it to Goodwins and he's belled the triac out. He says its gone open circuit and is goosed.

He's a good chap. In his wise ways he also states that other bits on the board may have blown also and that before I get a new Speed Control Module, I need to find out what took the triac out (and the fuse out) in the first place ... he has instructed me to look inside the unit and shake the drum about a bit to see if any cables touch anything else or the side of the unit ... perhaps look for a burn mark etc ... as if I replace the module then it starts to work OK, it might be a week into use and it will happen again (if something arcs or the "other" issue which caused it to blow in the first place returns)

Will keep you informed....

 

[fido]

For the symptom you describe the triac would be short circuit, not open circuit. If he can solder in a new one cheaply then I would let him. The fault could indeed be down to chafed wires so you do need to check this out. To check for shorted turns you could put the machine back together as it is but don't plug the motor in , put in a load of washing, putt it on a rinse programme to fill up with water, move it on to a drain position to drain out the water, switch off, plug in the motor and select the spin programme. If there are shorted turns there will be big sparks from the motor as it spins the washing.

 

[badkarma]

Sorry fella, I get my open circuits and short circuits mixed up ... I'm not an electrician but know how to change a car battery / mains plug ... thats about my limit to electronics

I will try the test you mention ... I presume with the new triac in place first ?

Will let you know ...

 

[badkarma]

OK, I'm going into bonkers mode now

Just bought a EM13SF 1000 off ebay for £3 and am going to plug it into where my EM13SFB 1200 used to sit (as long as it looks similar on pinouts on the reverse of the pcb....

But while I am waiting for the unit to arrive, anyone ever plugged a 1000 unit into where a 1200 once stood ... am I right in thinking it will just spin a little slower ?

Obviously wouldnt try putting a 1200 where a 1000 one was but going lower should be OK shouldnt it?

Either way I'll be turning the washing machine on with a snooker cue at some considerable distance making sure no PCs / dvd players and TVs are plugged in first

If you dont hear back from me in a day or so ... please send flowers