The main motor in a Frigidaire-built Kenmore front loader, Model 417.29052990 has stopped working. There were no noises, leaks or any other prior indications of trouble with the washer before this happened.

I pulled out the technical information from the manila envelope on the machine and found that there was a diagnostic procedure there for just these symptoms. It can be viewed online at www.applianceblog.com/manuals/frigfrontloadermotorstuff.jpg

I started to go through the steps of this procedure, but found that there was a problem with Step 4. This step calls for measuring "the voltage drop between pin 6 of the 9 pin connector and pin 4 of the 4 pin connector."

The problem? There is no contact in the 6th hole of the 9 pin connector! There's only an empty space where a contact could be put, but there nothing there. The 9th hole of the 9 pin connector is likewise empty, and there's no indication that there has ever been a contact installed in either of these locations.

I've run all the other tests on this page, and all of them have come back negative. The test in step 4 seems nonsensical - there being nothing there to measure in the first place - and this makes me question whether the other tests are valid as well.

Can anyone help me out with this? Did I just get an incorrect set of docs with this machine?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Steven

Hi,

Make sure you are reading those slots correctly as numbered by the tech. sheet, its thrown me a few times, but i finely got it figured out.

Also look at the control board closely, if you see any brown or burned spots, then its the control board thats the problem.

Jake

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Jake,

I *think* that I've got the pins ID'd correctly, but I'd welcome a sanity check.

If I read the diagram correctly, the top pin on each of the connectors would be pin 1, with the numbers rising as you go farther down the connector.

I'll pull the board and look for scorch marks. If I find them, what are the odds that something *else* caused the failure? In other words, is it likely that a blown board could be a symptom, not the disease?

One other question: on a 5 year old machine like this, is replacing the board likely to be worth the money? It's a pretty pricey part, and the machine has seen fairly heavy use.

Thanks for the help.

Steven

If you find brownish marks on the control board, then its the control board itself that went out, not anything else that caused it to go out.

It may be worthwhile to just invest that money into a new front loader, due to bearing problems on the Kenmore 417 made by Frigidaire.

Jake

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Star Appliance Tech. 2 yrs. 1988-1990
Wards Appliance Tech. 11 yrs. 1990-2001
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Some Frigidaire(and Kenmore) washers built around 1999 were "hybrids".
Basically the design was changed from a DC motor to an AC motor and the Motor Controller became the actual *timer* instead of the timer that is located at the front of the machine.
Simple enough.
Except for the fact that Frigidaire had a ton of left-over inventory and decided to use them up instead of throwing them out.
The result was a brief period of production during which those models were a combination of the two designs.
It was very confusing when I had to service one of these *bizarre* and rare(thankfully) production flukes.

John

John,

How can I tell if I have one of these "unique" machines?

Steven

Jake,

Thanks for telling me to check double check the pins on the speed control unit. I pulled the board and checked the pin numbers silkscreened on the PC board.

It turns out that the diagram on the tech sheet has the locations of the pins wrong. It shows that pin 1 is at the top of *both* connectors, but the pins on the 9-pin connector are actually numbered from bottom to top.

To save anyone else the trouble, here's how the pins are actually numbered:

-> 9-pin connector (top of controller)

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

-> 4-pin connector (bottom of controller)
1
2
3
4

It turned out that the speed control is OK, but the motor does seem to be bad. It's actually so bad that I'm questioning what could have killed it so effectively!

Here are the measured values from the motor connector, vs. their expected values:

Stator Winding (full field):
Measured at 0.01 ohms, should be 0.9 ohms +/- 10%

Armature (rotor) winding:
Measured at infinity (open), should be less than 5 ohms

Stator Winding (tapped field):
Measured at 0 ohms (shorted), should be 0.28 ohms +/- 10%

Now this is certainly not *good*, but it doesn't make a lot of sense, either. Can anyone offer me an explanation why I might get this particular combination of readings? I'd expect this thing to be scorched, but it looks ( and smells) OK.

Is it likely that anything else might have been taken out by a blown motor?

I'd really like some answers here, before I even begin to contemplate replacing the motor. At over $200, it's not even worth considering unless that's *all* that I have to replace!

Thanks for all the help.

Steven

Stevene, Check the terminal connector pins where the wire harness plugs into the motor connector plug, i have seen these pins back out of place and also arc and burn , and that will cause the motor not to run as well.

Also check to see if any voltage is getting to the motor connector with a volt meter.

Jake

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Star Appliance Tech. 2 yrs. 1988-1990
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Jake's Appliance Repair Nov. 2005-present

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Jake,

The contacts seem to be in gorgeous shape, so I don't think that they're the problem.

On closer examination, I've found that one of the brushes on the motor is worn down to nothing. The spring that's supposed to maintain tension on the brush is resting on the frame that holds the brush in place, so it's pretty much a given that this brush isn't doing its job any more... The other one is close to worn out, but still has some life left in it.

I'm still not certain if, or why, a problem with the brushes would give me the readings that I've got, but I can definitely replace the brushes and see if the motor revives.

I'll give it a shot and let you know what happens.

You'd sure think that a motor like this should be good for more than 5 years, though. At the very least, you'd think that they'd sell replacement brushes for them, since they're actually pretty easy to replace.

Oh, well... It's off the motor rebuilding shop to talk them out of some replacement brushes that I can adapt to fit this thing.

Thanks again.

Steven

Yea, i know what you mean Stevene,

Good Luck, Hope you get it going again without too much cost.

Jake

__________________
Appliance Repair School 1987-1988
Star Appliance Tech. 2 yrs. 1988-1990
Wards Appliance Tech. 11 yrs. 1990-2001
Sears Appliance Tech. 4 yrs. 2001-Oct. 2005
Jake's Appliance Repair Nov. 2005-present

If you need more repair advice help on your appliance, click Here

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