More maintenance

Two days ago Bianca collared me in the kitchen: her 18-year-old AEG Lavamat 570 frontloader was once more playing up. I put it down to the electro-mechanical door lock, which had to close properly to supply current to the timer and the rest of the system. This door lock had been a cause of constant trouble in the past: I once had to restore a flakey connection by flowing solder on to a printed circuit track well hidden under a plastic catch, and some years later I had to perform plastic surgery on the thin little 'ears' that took the screws which held it to the steel casing and which of course had been whittled away by years of vibration and the pressure of constantly closing the door.

The result of the surgery, using metal-strength plastic putty, can be seen at the bottom in the close-up at left.

So this time, I flowed some more solder onto the worn tracks, and filed down the putty for a better fit, then replaced the lock and the rubber door seal. This was the easy bit, because it could all be done without moving the machine, or disconnecting it.

But the machine, while now lighting the pushbutton ON switch, thus signalling the current was flowing at least through the lock and to the panel of pushbuttons, would still not start.

This was the signal for a major overhaul. I pulled the hoses off under pressure, with a baby bath ready to catch the deluge inside the kitchen cabinet where I had cunningly arranged the plumbing. Then I crouched before the beast in a pose of submission, and coaxed it forward, out into the kitchen. I removed the top, and the metal rear panel, and visually checked for fallen cables or other vital components (the machine was shaking a little bit more these days after I had to jury-rig one of the two huges springs that held the tub more or less in place during the spin cycle). I wriggled all connections, but everything appeared o.k. So I pushed the washer back into its niche, reconnected the plumbing, and tried to start it once more.

Big trouble could be anticipated. So I put the work off by a day, and yesterday pulled the machine clear again and opened it up, then unscrewed and removed every bit of controller, pushbutton panel and various other components within easy reach from the top (see photo).

I soldered a new track on the main connection in the pushbutton panel - in the process singeing the kitchen table that I'd built some 30 years ago, much to Bianca's chagrin - and put everything back together. I left the top off because I had a feeling I had reconnected some of the multitude of ribbon cables the wrong way (next time I'll take a photo of the connections before I undo them!), and postponed further work until today.

So I hunted down the circuit diagrams today and checked the wiring against them. Sure enough, I had mis-connected a cable. This was quickly rectified, all went back in position and I confidently connected hose and electricity.

Surprise, surprise: not even the ON button lit up! I should have flowed solder onto that second track of the main supply connector to the button panel...

I turned away from the AEG beast in disgust. I had fixed it at least a dozen times, maybe more, during the past 18 years, and I have had some hand-holding from the company's customer relations people when AEG was still in business in its own right. The slogan AEG liked to drum into us, from childhood, was Aus Erfahrung Gut (Good due to experience). My experience has been that the machine failed most often from lack of manufacturing attention to little details, such as the construction of the crucial door inter-lock, or the track thickness of circuits carrying massive currents. Shame on you, AEG, or whatever you've become! (To think that in the same Sydney department store I had inspected a Swedish-made Asko washer and applauded its visibly well thought-out construction but couldn't persuade Bianca to buy it at around $A800 when the AEG cost about $1400...)

Bianca has saved up for a new washer, but I think I'll give it another try tomorrow... once more, with feeling! If all else fails, I will buy the next washing machine - as long as I can get the repair manual with it!

Sorry about the rant. But you can always not read it...

Cheers for now.