How can I fix the Fisher & Paykel Smart Drive 051?

OK I've become a bit of an expert on taking these apart - based on my wife watching the repair-man do it when we dropped a bobby-pin into the outlet pump. In other words, it's easy but you just need some confidence that you're not about to destroy something.

But your problem is perhaps even simpler to fix - it may be simply a balance problem, the "out-of-balance" toggle switch is activating as it goes through a cycle, stopping it. Simply adjust the level of the machine by turning the height screw under the front right corner support (trial and error, one way then the other). On our older machine, a small adjustment makes all the difference between running smoothly right through, and stopping annoyingly mid-cycle (in which case, a thump on the side gets it started again!)

If you really want to take it apart (say, to clean the outside of the tub or remove something dropped into the innards), here's a quick guide. Unplug the mains first!

Undo 2 screws at the back of the console. Remove console cover (requires separating an electrical cable - a push-pull plug). Remove the hinged lid by placing it exactly vertical and yanking up (you won't break anything!) Pull the 2 plastic cover-plugs away (front of top cover) and unscrew the 2 exposed screws. Remove the water inlet hoses, and unscrew the earth connection to the back of the body. Separate 2 more electrical cables and a push-on hose that go down the back right-hand corner into the depths of the machine. Ease the 2 plastic holding-tabs away at the back and remove the top cover (complete with the blue electronics box that sits under the console cover).

Now remove the top plastic rim around the tub (unhook the spring, left-hand front, and unclip the plastic clips around the circumference). Then place your hand inside the agitator shaft and unscrew the big plastic fastening screw. Pull the agitator up and out. Unscrew 3 screws now exposed at bottom of the tub. Pull the two bits now freed up and out (plastic holding flange and circular metal & plastic gear). Then lift the tub up and out. In the front right corner, one screw holds the plastic cover under which is the outlet pump.

And it all goes back easily, in reverse order.

It's straightforward to replace bits like the blue electronics box, the water inlet solenoid valves and the outlet pump (access through the removable panel at the bottom front).

Geoff
July 2006