In another thread I mentioned that I'd gotten a free Miele W1065 washer off Craig's List.
The donor stated that it stopped working, and just made a buzzing noise when one tried to start it. She said she called Miele and was told it was probably a relay, which would cost $125 for the part pluse $200 for the service visit.
I picked up the washer at night (tricky negotiating about 14 outdoor winding concrete steps). It sat in my shop for a week or so. Friday night I started working on it, and confirmed the relay was bad. I took apart the relay and fiddled with it, and got the washer to work, more or less, but it still had a problem (door lock then made a loud buzzing when it released the door).
Last night I swapped out the relay from my other W1065, and lo and behold it resolved the door lock buzz issue. I pried the lid off that relay, saw how I'd reassembled the other one incorrectly, and worked on that one. As it happens, the problem with the relay is a small but intricate plastic plunger part, which had lost its grip on a metal actuating slideer. Unfortunately in my attempts to fix that, the plastic part crumbled even more. Finally I made what I though was a crude fix, using a brass wire to hold the two pieces together (there's also a spring and a thin metal plate sandwiched in there). It was good enough to get the machine working. Don't know how long that fix will last, though.
At $125 for the new relay, I'm going to look at Radio Shack and other places to see if I can get a generic relay to do the same thing. All it is, is a 110 volt 60 hz relay, that takes a low amperage 110 volt input (I measured it) and then uses that to drive the plunger momentarily to close the points on a 15 amp 110 volt circuit. There must be lots of these sorts of relays around.
Meanwhile I'm going to move some machines around in the shop, and give the "new" W1065 a full test, then maybe a load of whites.
The donor stated that it stopped working, and just made a buzzing noise when one tried to start it. She said she called Miele and was told it was probably a relay, which would cost $125 for the part pluse $200 for the service visit.
I picked up the washer at night (tricky negotiating about 14 outdoor winding concrete steps). It sat in my shop for a week or so. Friday night I started working on it, and confirmed the relay was bad. I took apart the relay and fiddled with it, and got the washer to work, more or less, but it still had a problem (door lock then made a loud buzzing when it released the door).
Last night I swapped out the relay from my other W1065, and lo and behold it resolved the door lock buzz issue. I pried the lid off that relay, saw how I'd reassembled the other one incorrectly, and worked on that one. As it happens, the problem with the relay is a small but intricate plastic plunger part, which had lost its grip on a metal actuating slideer. Unfortunately in my attempts to fix that, the plastic part crumbled even more. Finally I made what I though was a crude fix, using a brass wire to hold the two pieces together (there's also a spring and a thin metal plate sandwiched in there). It was good enough to get the machine working. Don't know how long that fix will last, though.
At $125 for the new relay, I'm going to look at Radio Shack and other places to see if I can get a generic relay to do the same thing. All it is, is a 110 volt 60 hz relay, that takes a low amperage 110 volt input (I measured it) and then uses that to drive the plunger momentarily to close the points on a 15 amp 110 volt circuit. There must be lots of these sorts of relays around.
Meanwhile I'm going to move some machines around in the shop, and give the "new" W1065 a full test, then maybe a load of whites.
