New Toys! Advice Needed. Vintage Kenmore Electronic set

[Marky_Mark]

Hi guys

I'm delighted to have recently saved this Kenmore Electronic 90 Series set that I discovered at an estate sale in a place called Anza, California. Just a short, 75-minute drive from Palm Springs but it felt like I'd entered another world, driving through the twisty mountainous roads at high altitude with snow on the ground up there!  They were owned by empty nesters and manufactured in November 1994, so they just about qualify for the Imperial forum!

After converting the dryer from LPG back to natural gas, I was excited to try out the machines and they both appear to work perfectly, even the neutral drain, the dispensers and all lights and buttons! 

There was a lot of dirt inside the cabinets and evidence of rodents having shacked up in the machines.  

 

P.S. the displays don't show up properly in the photos but they do work perfectly.

 

[Marky_Mark]

<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is my first direct drive washer, so I'm not at all familiar with them.  Upon closer inspection, there could be trouble brewing:</span>

 

<ul>
<li>What do you guys make of the condition of the agitator shaft and seal area?  The basket is rusted to the drive block and I haven't tried hard to remove it yet.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The gear case is covered in a mixture of dirt, rodent fur and droppings but I haven't cleaned it yet and I don't know about any evidence of oil leaks.  I will check the oil using a wire coat hanger as a dipstick.</li>
</ul>

 

[Marky_Mark]

Now, here's the big question: what should I do about maintaining them?  I subscribe to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy and I don't want to do more harm than good by needlessly delving deep into it.  But I do want to do any maintenance that is recommended.

 

 Possible options are:

<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Do nothing.  Just use them "as is" and if/when a problem occurs, deal with it then.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 12pt;">Go all out and tear it down. As the shaft and possibly the seals might be on their last legs, maybe I should install a new brake assembly, tripod and transmission etc.  Also take the opportunity to do other maintenance while it's all apart...? </li>
</ul>
I will await instructions and advice from all you seasoned DD experts out there!  And thanks again to Jon up in WA who guided me through removing the dispensers without breaking them!

 

 

Mark

 

[repairguy]

Congrats on a great pair. The washer is coded as a 1995 model so yours were built a little ahead of time. The rust on the shaft in the seal area isn’t great but my vote is to use them until a problem arises.

 

[agiflow]

Mark that is a wonderful set you have. Who doesn't love panel lights? I hope you get these up and running without too many worries.

 

[washerlover]

Mark, I continue to be in awe of your finds! Nice addition to your collection.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Thanks, Todd! Amazing to think that there’s only 20 years between this set and the 1974 LK set you gave me.
Thanks, Pat! Yes I’m a sucker for bells and whistles. And this set certainly delivers in that respect — so flexible and so many options. You can even do a pre-soak at any temp/speed with intermittent agitation selectable up to 61 minutes, automatically followed by the cycle of your choice with fresh detergent dispensed automatically.

Thank you, Melvin. Perhaps I should leave well enough alone. Who even knows what will fail first. Hopefully not the NLA electronics. That could spell the kiss of death. I don’t know…..I’m definitely up for doing some preemptive maintenance. Maybe a new inner basket. Hum….

 

[whitewhiskers]

re: rodent droppings

Love your new find. The pair are awesome. Be careful. The hantavirus is in California. Mask up thoroughly.

About Hantavirus

An overview of hantavirus, how it's spread and how it can be treated.

www.cdc.gov

 

[combo52]

Early 90s electronic direct drive pair

Wow, another nice score Mark, these are fun machines very versatile and great performing machines, is your dryer early enough to have the flip over feature to help you find socks in a load of laundry.

I would agree with Melvin. I would just clean up the rust a little bit and keep using it in order to do a perfect job on it. You would need to replace the agitator shaft in the basket drive and spin tube maybe the inner wash basket and possibly you’ll even end up replacing the tripod.

If you really end up wanting to use this machine a lot you could always look for a donor machine and almost unused basic direct drive machine. They pop up pretty often and steal the parts from that.

In the meantime, enjoy automatic top load washing at its best.

John L

 

[Marky_Mark]

Thank you, John.  Right...that settles it then -- I'll take Melvin's and John's advice and use it and enjoy it just the way it is.  I'll apply something around the rusty areas without attempting to remove the inner basket.  

 

The dryer does not appear to have the flip over feature.

 

Once I've got them throughly cleaned out (without contaminating myself!), I'll look forward to putting them through their paces.