Speed Queen pair, electronic controls....

[turbokinetic]

Hi folks. I am posting this from my phone so forgive any formatting errors or oddness. I'm not a smartphone guy but I'm using what I have.

Anyway, I have found a matching speed queen washer and dryer with a touch panel control. I'm going to attempt to attach pictures. I can get the pair for less than $200. They say the washing machine has a glitch and sometimes to spin cycle does not work, but the dryer is fully functional.

I'm a refrigeration guy but don't have much experience on washers. I'm looking for any info on these such as is it worth 200 for the pair? And are these electronic touch controls likely to be problems?

Thank you all so much in advance for your response! Sincerely, David

 

[turbokinetic]

So; I went ahead and committed to these today. Will share more when I get them home. 

Plan to lubricate the motor bearings and any bearings which can be oiled, change belts, and see about the washer transmission oil. I say "see about" because I seem to remember someone saying it may be a bad idea to change it. 

 

The story is that they were from an estate sale and didn't sell. So they ended up at a secondhand shop when the house sold. The washer was sold once and returned because it wouldn't spin. The owner bypassed the lid switch to get it to spin.  If that's truly all that's wrong with it, I will be very happy. 

 

My current washer has a weak transmission and has to be used with light loads, on slow agitate cycle. The drier works find but the timer stopped working and I have to manually stop the drier.  So I plan to service these SQ units and swap them for my Kenmore and Amana.

 

[maytag85]

Reply #1

Are you referring to the transmission on your early 80’s Kenmore washer? The spring that pushes down on the shifter fork is either broken or very week, fairly easy to repair but usually the transmission has to come out of the washer to be able to open it up and replace the spring along with giving it a oil change.

 

[turbokinetic]

Sean, yes that's the problem I'm referring to. I have a problem where I can't be down for too long since the nearest place I can do laundry is a long way away. I wasn't able to find a transmission which was "for sure" correct for my Kenmore. That sort of put me off from trying to fix it. Assuming the Speed Queen ends up working well, that will buy time for me to take apart the Kenmore and repair the transmission; even if I have to tear down the transmission and make measurements to get the correct parts; or even machine parts myself for it.

 

[goatfarmer]

Nice set! Had several of those over the years, the ones I had weren't worth fixing, and were scrapped. Good luck with them!

 

[repairguy]

I hope they work well for you. These are mid eighties models so they have some age on them.

 

[turbokinetic]

Melvin, the display faces have 1986 dates on them. The washer has no date newer than 1986 that I have seen yet. The dryer has a few 1987 codes, such as the molding mark on the blower wheel. This makes me think the pair was probably sold as a 1987 or 1988 set. Someone more learned than I may be able to decode the serial numbers. 

 

Kenny, as for yours not being worth fixing, that's sort of vague. Not being difficult just would like to know more about what you found wrong. Was it the electronic controls which were bad? I've read that there is a seal in the lower part of the drum which is expensive but not much more negative info about these. I would just like to learn from your experience with these.

 

Got the units home and took them apart. WOW at how clean they are. I'm amazed at the condition. It's almost "suspiciously" clean as if they may not have been working for long. 

 

I have oiled both motors, as well as the washing machine pump bushing and dryer drum support wheels. That should prolong the life I expect. Will try to get new belts tomorrow for both units, if I can find locally. The washer belts should be available at PRS locally, but the dryer belt may pose a little more difficulty finding locally. 

 

Still thinking about how to change or renew the transmission oil. I don't see a plug. On my Sears, I drilled and tapped a hole in the housing for drain and refill. Will not do that until I find a manual on this unit and determine there isn't an oil service procedure in that manual. 

 

Sincerely,

David

 

 

[repairguy]

They are definitely clean for their age and I’m sure they are still here because they were gently used. The washer probably needs a circuit board. I had one of these models that needed a board. They are stout machines. As far as I know there was no easy way to replace the oil other than removing the transmission and splitting it open. The good news is that in all the years I’ve messed with these machines I’ve never seen one need an oil change. I have seen plenty of them put oil on clothes at some point when the seal fails in the top of the transmission due to heavy shaft/bearing wear from heavy use but I don’t think you’ll have this issue. I always replaced the transmission when they leaked oil on clothes. After going through them like you have I’m sure they will be dependable for you.

 

[brisnat81]

Hi David,

The reason these end up uneconomical to repair, even back when they were new, was because the lower water seal ends up failing, usually at the 5-10 year mark, it generally starts off slowly and lets just enough water down into the bearing below. By the time you see water under the machine, you need a new Hub and seal kit, plus a new bearing.

It is repairable, but over here that kit and the bearing cost about $300AUD and its a big job to strip the machine down to the point where you can replace it all. So I'm assuming that from Kenny's perspective, that by the time you consider parts and labour, it wasn't worth it to repair and resell these. I only ever tried to restore and resell two and with Labor, I struggled to break even. It made sense to repair it if you owned it and when a new machine cost $2k, but it didnt when you'd be lucky to get $500 for it to resell.

The Domestic models over here were branded as Kleenmaid and they also had Powdercoated top decks and lids. The powdercoating more often than not would fail, leaving you with a mess of rust and peeling paint.

Cheers

Nathan

 

[DADoES]

 
Dryer serial number is March 1979.

Washer July 1979.

Assuming Appliance411's decoding is correct.

 

[combo52]

Mid 80s Speed Queen electronic pair

Congratulations Dave on your low mileage machines.

No need to try to change the washer transmission oil that would be the last thing I would ever cause a problem on lightly used machines like this.

Change the washer main drive belt if you’d like the pump belt will outlast the machine. Might want to change the dryer belt if it has cracks in it but it also is very durable. Otherwise I think what you’ve done is all you should do and hopefully they work.

These machines are a lot newer than 1979 they didn’t produce these models that early.

John.

 

[DADoES]

 
Newer than '79 ... surely so, and interesting that App411 lookup didn't suggest a range of dates for coding repetition.

 

[turbokinetic]

Thanks to all for the comments and information. Much appreciated. I did replace the dryer belt and washer drive belt, plus oil both motors and all of the rollers and idlers which have Oilite bushings. As John said, the pump belt was still fine, and because I couldn't get one locally I left it in place.  

 

I tend to agree that the electronic aspect of these would likely not be around in the 1970's; or would have been too cost-prohibitive.  As for the date, I have found date codes on some of the parts, in the form of plastic injection molding marks. The newest date code was 1987, with most being 1986. The control panel faceplate is marked 1986 copyright. I expect that these were sold as 1988 models, plus or minus a year.

 

The seller explained that he was selling the washer as a "needs repair" unit because he had sold it and taken it back due to a problem with the lid switch. He explained he had bypassed that switch to get it to spin and drain at the former new owner's house so that he could take it back.  I found that the entire switch and all associated mounting hardware was missing.  I called the guy and thankfully he had kept the switch and all the hardware. I made a 1.5 hour round trip to get this from him. The switch had about 15Ω to 30Ω when in the closed position.  I drilled the rivets out and took the switch apart. The contacts were unworn but had a heavy tarnish on them.  Even though that would not stop the motor from running, it was causing voltage drop across the switch, which the electronic control monitors.  After cleaning the contacts and reassembling the switch everything is working.  I really don't care about having a lid switch. No kids nor pets in the house. However, the lid switch also doubles as an out-of-balance switch. Therefore I didn't want the risk of damage if it got out of balance without this switch and I wasn't around to stop it. I'm thankful he didn't discard the switch mechanism. A new switch would be easy to get but the rest of the mounting hardware and the mechanism which actuates the switch could have been a problem to get. 

 

Yesterday I ran several wash cycles with the washer outside at my shop. Worked well, so I moved it to my house laundry room. So far one load of washing done and it worked perfectly. 

 

Hopefully no leaks develop. The first several loads I ran were with the front panel off. No leaks appeared at that time.

 

Sincerely,

David

 

[DADoES]

 
Large success, yay!

 

[panasonicvac]

Nice SQ set! These appear to be newer than the one Lorain Furniture posted on YouTube not too long ago, nonetheless these electronic models are very cool!

 

[turbokinetic]

Hi Alex, thanks for the link to Lorain Furniture's video!

 

[ozzie908]

Spin rinse

Is this not available on SQ washers?

 

[turbokinetic]

Austin, I don't think it has a dedicated button for spin-rinse; however it does rinse during the first half of the spin cycle. Maybe a better way to say it is, it has spin-rinse but you can't turn it off.

 

[ozzie908]

Turbokinetic

David I am assuming that you can access a separate rinse by advancing the program?

What I was asking and not very clearly ( Sorry about that ) Does speed queen not do a spray rinse while spinning out the wash water ? and before it does the deep rinse??