1987 Kenmore Limited Edition Washer Went Haywire

[philcobendixduo]

The electronic controls on my 1987 Kenmore Limited Edition washer have worked flawlessly - until today.
(I bought this machine new in 1987)
I first washed a load using the "Cotton/Sturdy" cycle which I access using the "Favorite Cycle" pad and all went well.
I then washed a load using the "Permanent Press" cycle and that was fine too.
Next, I washed a load using the "Favorite Cycle" again and while it SHOULD have been the "Cotton/Sturdy" cycle, it actually ran the "Permanent Press" cycle as evidenced by the "cool down" during the wash (partial drain and refill with cold water). Slow speed spins after wash and rinse, too.
The BIGGEST oddity was that during the final spin, the "time remaining" display showed 68 minutes!
Thinking something was really messed up, I pressed the "Cancel" pad to end the cycle.
I have NEVER seen this before BUT I will say that I only started using the "Favorite Cycle" pad this year so MAYBE I pressed something today that messed that up - not sure.
I unplugged the machine for 5 minutes then plugged it back in and ran my last load and all was well.
I DO hope the electronic control board isn't failing as I doubt I'd ever be able to get a replacement for a 31 year-old machine!
Time will tell....

 

[electronicontrl]

No pictures?

It sounds like a fun machine. Glad "all was well" with the last load.
Do you disconnect the AC power cord when the machine is not in use? Or do you have a surge suppressor as an accessory?

 

[philcobendixduo]

Picture & Surge Protection

The washer has a built-in surge protector and I also have a whole-house surge protector installed at the electrical panel so it's well protected against electrical "gremlins".

 

[2packs4sure]

One thing a do it yourselfer with some soldering skills can do is remove the circuit board and re-flow the solder joints.
Sometimes a good close up inspection with magnification and light probing to reveal loose components will locate a bad solder joint and a quick re-flow will fix it.
Years of vibration and temp changes can cause cracks in the solder and create all sorts of issues.

 

[realvanman]

Surge Suppressors

Surge suppressors are typically designed around Metal Oxide Varisters (MOV). These wear out. Every time they absorb a spike, a little of their life is used up. So the originals in your machine may well be non-functional by now. Just something to be aware of.

 

[gyrafoam]

What a racket the (so called) "surge protectors" are. Oh, they may handle minor spikes,but if a bolt of lightning hits the house everything is going to fry. A false sense of security.

 

[dustin92]

We've had power surges and didn't have any protection, and everything was fine. Not saying it always will be, but we have been lucky. A couple weeks ago a neighbor's tree lost a limb and ripped the wires out of our house and the meter box off of the garage wall, when the power company came to repair it (about an hour from whem the tree fell), they said we had one of the 120v lines ripped off, the neutral ripped off, and it was backfeeding part of the remaining 120v line through the ground. They said we would probably have fried electronics, I had pulled the main fuses when I woke up and saw the nightlight in the kitchen at about 1/8 brightness and heard this most ominous hum from somewhere. Surprisingly everything has been fine, I thought the washer might have fried controls but it's fine as well, just didn't want to run off of a generator. We did plug the TV and satellite dish reciever into a surge protector after the fact, those are about the only valuable electronics we have.

 

[mrb627]

Similar Machine

I had a similar pair in 1997.
Surge protection is nice, but more than likely, a dip in voltage is the culprit here. Maybe a rolling brown out situation from your power company.

The recommendation from Sears service back then was to keep the machine unplugged when not in use.

Malcolm

 

[countryford]

Nice looking machines. I hope you don't have anymore problems with them. I have the same set, but in black.

 

[philcobendixduo]

Did 2 Loads Yesterday....

......using the Cotton/Sturdy cycle and all was well.
I guess the issue I had last week was due either to a "glitch" in the control system or maybe had something to do with the programming of the "Favorite Cycle" pad which, admittedly, I'm not an expert at. I had to read and re-read the directions to try and figure it out which is why I've never used it until this year!
Maybe I'll just not use it - it's not THAT hard to change the wash temperature and wash time.