Miele W1918 flaking out electronically

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cantare

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Oct 18, 2018
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Location
Menlo Park, CA
My 1918 finished a load and I had to release the door manually because the LED panel was blank. I soon discovered the panel lights come on randomly and intermittently, not in apparent connection with any particular button or the door latch...I did a lot of tapping and jiggling of controls. I was able to do another partial load, then the panel fritzed out again. It's mostly dead now but I can get some occasional lights for a bit after waiting.

I opened the front panel and checked both upper and lower boards for obvious fried ICs or components--nada. No broken wires or obvious damage. Tried carefully with power ON, and still can't trace behavior to a loose ribbon connector or anything thus far. Boards may be available on eBay, but I thought I'd ask here if this seems at all familiar, perhaps with a non-obvious cause, before I go tossing money at used PCBs.

Or would a 12xx touchtronic model be a decent replacement?
 
The service manual for these is readily available on manualslib.com:

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/818702/Miele-W1903.html#product-NOVOTRONIC W 1918

Refer to pages 45/46.
You'll need a multimeter, but this should pretty easily give you a good estimate which of the 2 boards is bad.
Though keep in mind that troubleshooting dosen't account for both being bad - so if both are bad, you'd first have to find a replacement for the lower to find out the upper is bad.
Though the upper isn't that likely to go bad in general from what I have seen.
 
Hi, thanks, my DMM appears to be missing--probably lent it out. I ordered one and will test tomorrow. Are boards for these 19xx interchangeable, or do I need the specific 1918 5kg ones?
 
The boards should have a specific number on the module (ELP165, something like that, probably not specifically that).

If these match, you can usually set up the system to whatever specific model you have.

Problem just is knowing how to configure them correctly.

There is a manual for that - but finding that is basically impossible unless you buy new from Miele.
And you can't go trial and error since you can literally make the PCB unuseable if you set a wrong setting.

So going with a correctly set up one right from the get go is the smarter idea.
 
Thanks very much. I have been lucky enough to find a W1213 in working order and am having it delivered next week, as this machine already had other issues, probably related to worn shocks. It makes an alarming amount of banging during spins even if not overloaded--I have to stand there ready to turn the speed down. I've had to replace the water intake valves, and it keeps losing the little rubber suds hose that connected the soap tray to the drum.

I believe the 'touchtronic' 12xx series is still old enough to have the 220v for full sanitize heating and has almost as high a spin speed (1400?). It would still be nice to repair the 1918, because I hate junking good tech, but at least I'll have clean clothes while I tinker with it.

I might be in above my pay grade fixing it, however, if it isn't just testing pin voltages and replacing boards. Most parts don't seem available new, and I bet they'd cost some insane amount if they were.
 
Yes, W1213 does have "Sanitize" which is 95 degrees C, and "Very Hot" which is 70 degrees C.

https://assets.ajmadison.com/ajmadison/itemdocs/W1213_us.pdf

Maddening thing is Miele labels water temps as just that "No Heat, Cold, Warm, Very Warm, Hot, Very Hot, and Sanitize" One must refer to manual in for sorting out what is what, but soon enough will become second nature.

All and all if board is gone with your W1918 moving onto another machine isn't a bad choice. W19XX series washers have been declared obsolete by Miele USA, thus they aren't bringing in new parts stock from Germany, nor have in some time. What is in warehouses or stocked by repair persons is basically all there is, well not unless part in question is used on other more modern Miele washers.

Issues you describe with suds container excessive movement likely are related to shocks. If machine were otherwise working property would have strongly suggest replacement. It's rather a tedious DIY job, but can be done with proper tools and patience for far less then Miele USA charges for a call out. Once done new set of shocks would have lasted many years.

Triple and hot water solenoid valves for these older Miele washers is where many of us must give up.

Despite machines being 204v-240v/120v washers, many internal parts are latter (120v). You can find water valves for 19xx washers easily enough in Europe or elsewhere outside of USA, but they all are 208v-240v at 50hz, not the 120v/60hz required for these machines. Miele of course did not make these valves, but sourced from someone else. Thus in theory it should be possible to run some to ground, but so far few of us have had any sort of luck.

Quite honestly 208v-240v/120v W19XX and later Miele washers pop up frequently enough and often going for very little money, so doing a swap often makes more sense then bothering with an intensive repair.
 
Shocks

Going for the exact same shocks original from Miele will be quite pricey, but aftermarket ones will work just aswell.
A pair of aftermarket shocks over here can be had for under 15€.
So even shipping those across the pond can certainly be worth it.

Your machine probably has an open bottom, so easiest is probably just laying the machine on its side gently and working from there.

If you let me know what electronic yours is (3 letters and 3 numbers) I can check if any EU service offers repairs for those and if so for how much.

Shipping isn't particularly cheap, but probably still cheaper.
 
Very helpful community--thank you both for your sage advice. Got my new DMM now...

There are paper labels on the plastic housing of each board. No burned looking components on either PCB.

Lower board EL-101G tests OK on pin 9-10 (5 VDC out of 4-6 V acceptable) and just slightly out of tolerance on pin 12-13 (33.9 VDC out of 25-33 V acceptable). Don't quite know what that means. I suppose out of range is out of range.

Upper board EDPW-101C fails its test as pin 10-11 is just ~175 mV out of 1.4-2.4V acceptable.
 
Once you know part numbers finding Miele spares is easier

Things like shock absorbers often can be found for very little money on eBay "worldwide". Just search by part number and make very sure things match.

There are also spares dealers in Europe that happily will ship to USA. Tend to work with those located in UK or France as Germany's shipping charges run a bit steep. Place use in UK actually has a USA mirror website and IIR does some sort of bulk drop shipping from across pond.

Can go with after market, or if not in hurry wait until someone lists new stock genuine Miele. Got set for my older Miele washer this way, and tech wasn't bothered by installing. You'd be wise to replace both shocks, regardless if only one is gone or going.

Beauty of older Miele washers is they largely were designed to be serviced from front, perhaps bottom, and top depending upon what needs doing.

Replacing right shock is pretty straight forward, the left is bit of a tight squeeze owing to pump and some other bits in way.

In aid of making things easier many if not most newer Miele washers have removable side panels.

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?74700





 

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