Hotpoint WD420 fault
- Thread starter HarryM1BYT
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Will do thanks. I'l be back to you on this.
Glad everyone is finding the fix useful 
My assumption was that the original voltage rating of the part was under rated, hence its being such a common failure - so I suggested to use 16v rather than the original 10v rating.
1000uF is fine - this type of capacitor is not made to accurate standards so the original circuit design would normally allow for a tollerence of -10% to +50%.
I was quoted £160 for the repair - £120 for a reconditioned PCB plus £40 for fitting, by a local repairer who seemed to be quite familiar with the symptoms of the fault. The repairer was unwilling to just source the replacement for me to fit myself - far to technical a job he said
I then tracked down a source of exchange PCB's at around £56 and had actually pulled the PCB out ready to send off, when I decided to check the PCB out for any obvious problems - spotting the swelling of C17.
For interest - the engraved marks on the upper face are intended to gently split, to release internal pressure rather than have the capacitor explode. A bit like a safety valve.
Thanks to GreggyB for expanding on my description and his photos.
My assumption was that the original voltage rating of the part was under rated, hence its being such a common failure - so I suggested to use 16v rather than the original 10v rating.
1000uF is fine - this type of capacitor is not made to accurate standards so the original circuit design would normally allow for a tollerence of -10% to +50%.
I was quoted £160 for the repair - £120 for a reconditioned PCB plus £40 for fitting, by a local repairer who seemed to be quite familiar with the symptoms of the fault. The repairer was unwilling to just source the replacement for me to fit myself - far to technical a job he said
I then tracked down a source of exchange PCB's at around £56 and had actually pulled the PCB out ready to send off, when I decided to check the PCB out for any obvious problems - spotting the swelling of C17.
For interest - the engraved marks on the upper face are intended to gently split, to release internal pressure rather than have the capacitor explode. A bit like a safety valve.
Thanks to GreggyB for expanding on my description and his photos.
UPDATE**
Just to let you guys know I changed the brown and blue wires from the heater to different lugs on the control board (they were in the wrong order) and hey presto the machine is working fine! problem was solved. So it was actually the capacitor. Hopefully I will have clean clothes for many a day to come. this was the best use of a forum ever!! Thanks all sooo much and happy St. Patricks Day.
Just to let you guys know I changed the brown and blue wires from the heater to different lugs on the control board (they were in the wrong order) and hey presto the machine is working fine! problem was solved. So it was actually the capacitor. Hopefully I will have clean clothes for many a day to come. this was the best use of a forum ever!! Thanks all sooo much and happy St. Patricks Day.
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My Hotpoint WDL540 started the same flashing lights symptoms last week, so after finding this thread, I had a go at the fix.
Upon removal of the PCB I noticed that the layout was ever so slightly different to the one pictured, however the capacitor at C17 was showing signs of corrosion. Bingo I think, so set about replacing with a new 1000uF 16v part!
After reassembling I had great hopes of having solved the problem, however on plugging in the machine I was greeted with the same flashing lights symptom.
Are there any other thinks I can do/check before I look for another power board?
Thanks, Mal
Upon removal of the PCB I noticed that the layout was ever so slightly different to the one pictured, however the capacitor at C17 was showing signs of corrosion. Bingo I think, so set about replacing with a new 1000uF 16v part!
After reassembling I had great hopes of having solved the problem, however on plugging in the machine I was greeted with the same flashing lights symptom.
Are there any other thinks I can do/check before I look for another power board?
Thanks, Mal
Just incase it's of any interest to others.
I also have a WD420, and upon 4yrs old, it went all flashy flashy on me.
Found this thread incredibly useful.
But I'm not at all confident on taking a washing machine to bits, or messing with anything where water meets power. So I went with a Hotpoint/Indesit fixed price repair of £125. I actually felt like I got value for money, and learned a few things in the process that may help others.
1] The new replacement PCB supplied was of an updated design with different connectors to the original. I guess that confirms they have updated the PCB design, hopefully to stop this happening.
2] Because the new replacement PCB had different connectors, the engineer had to replace quite a lot of the wiring loom to go with it.
3] The engineer had a service bulletin on his computer instructing him to also replace a filter, which he duely did.
So for my £125 I got a brand new updated board, a lot of wiring replaced and a replacement filter which will hopefully stop that being another problem waiting to happen.
And yes, for those speculating that the PCB is common across many different machines - quite right. One of the first things the eng had to do was "re-program" the new PCB for my model, which I presume means burn some firmware for the WD420.
The eng was in and out in an hour. I couldn't recommend them highly enough. To anyone trying to source a refurb PCB for 50/60 quid, well personally I'd pay the extra and get a brand new revised PCB from the manufacturer and fitted professionally.
Absolutely fantastic work to those with the skill just to replace C17, but doesn't it make you wonder that it only fail again in time? I suppose it depends if they had a batch of faulty capacitors, or whether it's a PCB issue causing it to blow...?
I also have a WD420, and upon 4yrs old, it went all flashy flashy on me.
Found this thread incredibly useful.
But I'm not at all confident on taking a washing machine to bits, or messing with anything where water meets power. So I went with a Hotpoint/Indesit fixed price repair of £125. I actually felt like I got value for money, and learned a few things in the process that may help others.
1] The new replacement PCB supplied was of an updated design with different connectors to the original. I guess that confirms they have updated the PCB design, hopefully to stop this happening.
2] Because the new replacement PCB had different connectors, the engineer had to replace quite a lot of the wiring loom to go with it.
3] The engineer had a service bulletin on his computer instructing him to also replace a filter, which he duely did.
So for my £125 I got a brand new updated board, a lot of wiring replaced and a replacement filter which will hopefully stop that being another problem waiting to happen.
And yes, for those speculating that the PCB is common across many different machines - quite right. One of the first things the eng had to do was "re-program" the new PCB for my model, which I presume means burn some firmware for the WD420.
The eng was in and out in an hour. I couldn't recommend them highly enough. To anyone trying to source a refurb PCB for 50/60 quid, well personally I'd pay the extra and get a brand new revised PCB from the manufacturer and fitted professionally.
Absolutely fantastic work to those with the skill just to replace C17, but doesn't it make you wonder that it only fail again in time? I suppose it depends if they had a batch of faulty capacitors, or whether it's a PCB issue causing it to blow...?
I was the OP and my repair is still holding up fine. The original batch of capacitors might have been faulty, but equally the voltage specification of the part might have been too low - which was why I suggested the 10volt part be replaced with a 16v item.
Manufacturers do use their customers as guinnea pigs for the early production and will often modify parts, based on failures during production or redesign to save money.
A similar capacitor failed last year on my £150 sat receiver system, just 13 months after purchase and just out of guarantee - that was also fixed for a few pence. On any electronic item the capacitors are the more likely to fail, than any other component.
This information was really useful; my mother in law’s Hotpoint WT 540 lights were flashing and would not work, she bought it from a local company which provided a lifetime labour guarantee and only the parts had to be paid for. The company came out and duly replaced the communications cable and charged £24, seemed reasonable, however, the machine operated for a couple of weeks and the same symptoms of flashing lights and the machine not working.
This time the same company turned up, did not take the machine a part and indicated new parts would be required and the shop would phone back with a quote for the parts; my mother in law had to chase them to get a quote, eventually she got one £140 for allegedly 2 PCBs!
At this stage I looked on the Hotpoint website; fixed prices repairs from £78 pounds, phoned only to find for this appliance the fixed price was indeed £105, a really helpful customer service person. So I said I would check with mother in law and see if she wanted the repair or buy a new one. On phoning back to arrange a repair a different customer service person went to great lengths to talk me through the options; that if they could not repair the machine they would still have to charge £50 and refund the £55. I thought this was odd and enquired why a manufacturer would not be able to repair their machines, she said parts availability / obsolescence or beyond economical repair. You would think from the model number the fact that machine was purchased in September 2007 that they would know the status of the spares. With this caveat I thought I would have a look at the machine first.
I searched the web to see if I could obtain a circuit drawing for the machine and came across this forum; brilliant to identify a stock fault, having been a service engineer for many years, I know from experience electrolytic capacitors are always a week point.
I still had various electronic components in the garage including capacitors, in the end I fitted 470 µF 63V the nearest I had, I did find a 1000 µF 100V but this would not physically fit in or at least the PCB cover would not go back on. This will be acting as a smoothing capacitor and I thought I will try it, if it does not work I will put 2 off 470 µF in parallel. The real problem with electrolytic is the operating voltage if they had been rated at 16V instead of 10V then they would last forever and day.
The good news is this has worked, and my mother in law can now do her washing once again, so thanks for identifying the actual capacitor. There are some more electrolytic capacitors on the PCB which are most probably vulnerable. Does anyone have a PCB circuit drawing as this would certainly be useful?
The cost of a PCB is £107, so the Hotpoint fixed price was a good deal at £105 and we would have gone this route if it had not of been for the Caveats, which with hindsight they would not have come into the equation. However, we have saved £105, for the sake of circa 1 hours work.
Best regards
This time the same company turned up, did not take the machine a part and indicated new parts would be required and the shop would phone back with a quote for the parts; my mother in law had to chase them to get a quote, eventually she got one £140 for allegedly 2 PCBs!
At this stage I looked on the Hotpoint website; fixed prices repairs from £78 pounds, phoned only to find for this appliance the fixed price was indeed £105, a really helpful customer service person. So I said I would check with mother in law and see if she wanted the repair or buy a new one. On phoning back to arrange a repair a different customer service person went to great lengths to talk me through the options; that if they could not repair the machine they would still have to charge £50 and refund the £55. I thought this was odd and enquired why a manufacturer would not be able to repair their machines, she said parts availability / obsolescence or beyond economical repair. You would think from the model number the fact that machine was purchased in September 2007 that they would know the status of the spares. With this caveat I thought I would have a look at the machine first.
I searched the web to see if I could obtain a circuit drawing for the machine and came across this forum; brilliant to identify a stock fault, having been a service engineer for many years, I know from experience electrolytic capacitors are always a week point.
I still had various electronic components in the garage including capacitors, in the end I fitted 470 µF 63V the nearest I had, I did find a 1000 µF 100V but this would not physically fit in or at least the PCB cover would not go back on. This will be acting as a smoothing capacitor and I thought I will try it, if it does not work I will put 2 off 470 µF in parallel. The real problem with electrolytic is the operating voltage if they had been rated at 16V instead of 10V then they would last forever and day.
The good news is this has worked, and my mother in law can now do her washing once again, so thanks for identifying the actual capacitor. There are some more electrolytic capacitors on the PCB which are most probably vulnerable. Does anyone have a PCB circuit drawing as this would certainly be useful?
The cost of a PCB is £107, so the Hotpoint fixed price was a good deal at £105 and we would have gone this route if it had not of been for the Caveats, which with hindsight they would not have come into the equation. However, we have saved £105, for the sake of circa 1 hours work.
Best regards
after suffering the same symptoms on our aquarius model wf321p changed the c17 cap , now nothing at all happens no power lights !! looks like i,ve killed it altogether lol, the plug fuse is fine, is there any fuses in the washer ?
thanks steve
thanks steve
You may have put the capacitor the wrong way around
hi thanks for the reply don,t think thats the case double checked before solderimg, my soldering skills not the best if it was a bad connection would this stop all the power lights etc???
steve
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