Yogi, Yes I have thought of the bicycle inner tube as a sleeve fix for the tube repair, but wanted to make sure I exhausted my options on finding an OEM solution before I went the MacGyver route.
As it turns out, I just ordered a complete used pinch valve assembly with a good hose for $75. Not exactly cheap, but a lot less than the $126 I've been quoted for the hose alone. It comes with a 90 day warranty. Hopefully this will get my machine back to factory specs and operation. I Can't have knobs and cycles that don't work.
If your like me (and I know you are), the little things seem to bother me just as much as the larger things. Case in point, the missing lid bumpers. Ya, not exactly something that would stop me from being able to use the machine, but it sure did feel better once I got and installed them. It was like Christmas morning. Sometimes that level of attention to detail can derail me, but I see it more of a gift as apposed to a curse.
Akronman, The SpotScrubber cycle is nothing more than an automatic feature to temporary halt the filter flo stream into the special SpotScrubber mini basket once it is filled. The mini basket does not have the typical drain holes located in the bottom which allows the concentrated water and detergent mixture time to work on heavy soil. After a few minutes the valve releases allowing the flow to resume. Once the flow restarts, the detergent mixture is allowed to overflow out the top ports into the wash tub. It's not something I feel I would use all the time, but since it says "SpotScrubber" prominantly on the machine face, I thought it odd not to have the feature working. The SpotScrubber is also featured on the cover of the GE appliance brochure I had as a top of the line model, so I thought it would be something to preserve since it's not as common as an everyday Filter Flo's we typically see.
