Repair of Dishwasher / Geschirr- Spüler Matura Öko silentic 600

Repair, Pictures, & Web page by Julian H. Stacey

The Problem:

The Analysis:

Both solenoids on input pipe were working OK. Water goes through both in series for extra safety. Presumably the 2 solenoids were electrically wired in series,

( Late 2006, it went wrong again, one of the coils was cracked from overheating, the other not, but the 2 wires were open circuit. A new Wasser Einlauf Ventil cost me 50 Euro (just the screw on bit, down to the bit that clamps on the hose. The new replacement has just one solenoid, but now also has some magnetic safety thing too.)

The outer hose is for air, so if a pipe leaks, pressure builds in outer pipe & is detected & solenoids de-activated.)

Water goes up the common input of the nylon semi translucent distributor, & gets stuck at the calcified valve you can't see, just to right of 4th picture (yes I forgot to photo that bit).

Water then goes back down other 2 large pipes, mixed via the orange water switch, which is settable for hard, medium or soft water; water then exits the nylon container through to the salt container or input filter.

I spent a long time decoding the circuit diagram, trying to figure out the Germanic 2 letter acronyms for the electro-technical devices, which are perhaps common to other devices too, so I'll add a table of them too, below. Turned out there was nothing wrong with the electrics though.

The Repair

To remove the nylon I had to cut the steel of the side body at the base. Look on one of the pictures of the whole machine, & you'll see on the green strip, that 4 cuts exist. OK you may get away with just the outermost 2 cuts, but I didn't realise how very large the plastic was going to be that I had to remove, so I started small. Note no cut is near where the door tensioner connects.

Pulled out over half a meter of plastic with 7 pipes going in,

Note you do Not need to remove the Salt container with Grey top, (shown removed in a photo) I just removed it too while searching for problem.

Poured in kettle de-calcifier,

Pressured it with a `lilo' type ( plastic air bed) pump (goggles on eyes of course)

Finally one drip came through ! Hooray ! Why for just one drip ? ' Cos one drip's enough, it etched the calcium a bit, 2nd drip was faster, finally gravity was enough,

I kept heating liquid in microwave & through again & again, finally the stuck valve was operational.

Sundry bits of bent wire were also used to poke the valve, which was of orange plastic strip format, of 180 degrees & about 10 centimetre diameter, as said, not shown in any picture. A half metre long tool for use extracting lost bolts from car engines etc was used to support bent wire etc. Though not essential if you don't have one.

Power Switch

Another time, the power switched failed, (horrible stink of burning plastic). I unscrewed stainless steel door from white fascia, so I hacked a new hole, *started by burning a hole through plastic fascia with Weller 140 W solder gun - ventilate well to avoid presumably toxic fumes) file hole square, push in a new switch (16 A 240 V push fit in to front, glue as hole alignement not perfect, bend clips on switch to avoid metal of frame, put rubber insulating boots on old wires to give extra insulation, the new wires I used had `piggy back' double connectors, wired as per picture, still using original neon, & wires also permanently enabling old switch as on, so save figuring how that connects into rest of switches in the block.

Rebuilding

You need a bunch of new Jubilee clips for the pipes, as all the clips are of the cheap "use once & throw away" type. Test in operation for any leaks. If a a screwed jubilee clip can rotate on rubber or nylon form, it's too loose.

The big hole in the side of the stainless stell wash compartment is Not just to let steam out & allow access to the orange hardness mixer tap. It alaso allows water into the machine, so if you reassemble this badly it will leak a lot of water onto floor. 1st try I fit it by feel & it leaked. (I was ill so hadt bothered to grovel down to look) 2nd try, I removed rubber seal, fitted that to stainless steel, then slid in the nylon on top, & very carefully fitted all together.

To retension the door tensioner.

This is a phosphor bronze strip about 10 cm long.
2 man job.
You do Not want it springing while you work, so goggles !
Lots of sharp hooks, & a big spring under much tension, so keep finger clear, use needle point pliers to align stuff.
Put a long indicator ie screwdriver on top of side of machine to show 2nd person what angle to pull at.
Use a long wire loop one wire each side of hook, through hole in frame, on to spring, to pull spring. Other end of wire loop can be rope, to back of pulling human & allow space, also if pulling human wobbles, it has less effect on alignment then. robe can go through eg a screwdriver handle or round wood for good grip.
My phosphor bronze door tensioner clips were set 2nd from end.
Option A: pre thread (before spring is put back ) a string from last hook on phosphor bronze, through length of spring up toward door, out of end of spring & back toward pulling area. Purpose is to guide hooks over spring end, but it didn't work well (hard to get phosphor bronze fitting inside the spring), so option B was used : Much Easier !
Option B: Pre load the phosphor bronze into the spring on hook position number 2. (No light string necessary). Get 2nd human to pull steadily progressively more (not jerking), & guide (using need point / radio pliers, Not fingers!) clip end of phosphor bronze out though chassis, have puller more slightly toward front of machine & slightly less pull, & clip latches.

If you ever plan to move the whole unit again, eg if using a trolley on right side in a house removal: a stiffening strut needs to be added to inside of base, which should be drilled & then screwed to the strut, (preferably not pop riveted in case you take it apart again.).

Spray paint with zinc undercoat & white topcoat, where the paint has flaked off after folding back the metal.

Acronyms - German wiring diagram (Schaltpläne)

TBL: Terminator Blocke L?

IF:

DS: Druck Schalter

GPL2: ? ? Lampe

DR: Druck Regler

DD: Druck Detector

PS: Personnen Schalter

MS: Mess Schalter Measuring Switch.

TIS: Timer Integriert Schalter

PRP:

PRS:

PRL:

PRN:

DPM: Dreck? Pumpe Motor - small output dirty water motor

SPM: Spül Pumpe Motor (Umwalz pumpe) - Large washing motor

IS:

TH55C: Thermostat 55 Celsius

TH65C: Thermostat 65 Celsius

THS2: Thermostat

TH40C: Thermostat 40 Celsius

TB: Terminator Blocke

WS: Wasser Schalter

CA:

TH-H: Thermisch Halterung

WVS: Wasser Ventil

WV1: Wasser Ventil

WV2: Wasser Ventil

HEW: Heizungs Element Wasser

RR: - Density measurer for salt container

Circuit diagrams & Wiring Diagram