I think the programmer on my hoover 1400 washing machine is broke?

programmers are usually very reliable.
some older washer models without LED consoles, or led program lights, use the program dial to indicate a fault(s) within the machine, this could be done via 2 ways either the dial spins round fast, or the dial stops at a certain point because whatever should be happening isn't ie filling , heating,draining , etc this helps the service man to diagnose the fault

wirecutterman
September 2009