Posted 13 November 2011 - 04:38 PM
Thanks again for the responses. You can find the part number for the fill switch I replaced at the original post of this thread. It definitely matched the old one. Today we did four or five loads with cold water, normal cycle (no pre-wash, no extra rinse) and they worked fine. Then we did one that seemed to work, but the clothes were left pretty wet. Then we did one with warm/cold, normal cycle (no pre-wash, no extra rinse) and it got the FE error. I ran through the tests of the inlet valves as directed above and through several tests, NO water came on at all, even though the water valves were open (maybe because there were already soaking load of clothes in the machine?). Then I let it sit for a few minutes and tried the inlet value test again. It successfully ran all inlet valve tests 3 times in a row. So I tried a new small load, warm/cold, no pre-wash, no extra rinse. It is hard to describe what it did:
- Water initially filled via cold and pre-wash valves, pre-wash valve kept letting water in and appeared to be stuck. The machine just kept filling through the pre-wash valve, reaching a level of around 220, and then you could hear the pump take water out until around level 250, and the process kept repeating until eventually the pre-wash valve stopped letting water in and the machine then pumped the water out. At no time did the machine tumble the clothes to wash them.
- Then it spun the clothes, and starting what appeared to be a wash cycle (although by now all the detergent surely had been rinsed out). During this part of the cycle, water continuously entered through the bleach inlet valve (up to again a level of around 220). Clothes were tumbed during this cycle.
- After spinning again, it started the rinse cycles. The first rinse cycle started letting water in thru pre-wash and quickly switched to cold main. During first rinse cycle, water came in continuousely via pre-wash valve (even while spinning out after the first rinse) and kept a steady level of 250-255 (even while spinning the clothes between first and second rinse).
- During second rinse cycle, water came in alternately via softener and main (cold) valves to about 237, and then tumbled the clothes.
- During final rinse cycle, water came in continously via the pre-wash valve, even when the clothes were spinning pretty rapidly. This continued on right through the entire spin cycle, even after the machine completed the load and sounded it happy little "I'm finished" chimes and the door unlocked. Water kept flowing until I shut off the main water valve. And when I re-open that water value, water no longer flows in (lack of water pressure allows the value to shut?). This might explain why the previous load ended with the clothes so wet.
- No FE this time. Machine seems to have a mind of its own and behave differently/unpredictably after successfully running several loads.
Is it normal to use the pre-wash inlet valve so much?
In my original post I questioned whether I had the inlet valves wired properly, but it seems like it must be since it can pass the tests, right? I suppose the inlet valves could have gotten damaged at some point while it was improperly wired? Do you think the next step would be to replace the entire inlet value assembly? I can attach a photo of the inlet value wiring if you would like to verify.
Thanks a lot, I really appreciate the help.
Mark
faulty main circuit board (p/n 6871ER1085C), but he did not have parts with him. 
