whirlpool Whirlpool Calypso 7MGVW9959KQ2 Readout Panel

[xjosh]

Here is a link to some pictures of my ailing washing machine.  

A few months ago it started to intermittently beep and display the heavy duty wash mode selection on the panel.  That is happening a lot more now.  Pressing stop/cancel will sometimes eliminate this issue, but not usually.  No other button presses seem to do anything.  You can press and hold stop/cancel to stop this behaviour, but that does not allow any other button presses to work either.  

I'm interested in troubleshooting the internals and replacing the worn out electrical components.  Can anyone help with that?

 

 

[xjosh]

Doing a visual inspection I found 3 bulging capacitors (circled in blue) on the machine control board and some build up on one of the cylinders (circled in red) on the motor control board.  If it's a likely solution, I could get a used machine control board on ebay for $50.  

[Budget Appliance Repair]

The current problem you are seeing sounds much more like stuck key(s), would need to replaced the touchpad/console assembly.

The control board could also be bad or just marginal and still work with a new touchpad.

My advise would be not to waste any money on this 13+ year old Calapso - at this age many more things could be going wrong and these weren't the best of machines when new.

Looks like if it is the touchpad/console you probably aren't going to want to fix it - if you can find one still available new it going to cost $300 plus.

8532066 Panel, Console (pearl) No longer available at APP, A1=$365+Ship special order and find most likely NLA.

I did some searching and it doesn't look like the touchpad/console is available in White like yours or Pewter which was $500+ when it was available.

[Thirstytech]

Bruther Willie nailed it on this one!

In fact if that collapse-o washer has been in service up until now you need to call Whirlpool and provide them with your address so they can mail you a trophy!

 

[xjosh]

Well for goodness sake gentlemen thank you for your advice!  Any advice on a replacement?  I had vague notions of waiting for a Memorial day sale and direct drive models, but nothing specific.  

[Thirstytech]

8 hours ago, xjosh said:

Well for goodness sake gentlemen thank you for your advice!  Any advice on a replacement?  I had vague notions of waiting for a Memorial day sale and direct drive models, but nothing specific.  

http://www.speedqueen.com/

[xjosh]

Can you help me understand which model is more cost effective over the appliance life time for a family of four?  I really don't know much.  Front load, top load, direct drive vs belt?

[xjosh]

Return of the Collapse-O!

 I was a fine blonde **** hair away from pulling the trigger on one of those hard core Speed Queen rigs, but I just couldn't do it.  I'm such a cheap bastard.  Anyway I soldered in 3 new capacitors to replace those bulgers and she fired right up!  Ha!  Who knew the sound of a working machine could be so sweet?  Feels good man (for $4.57 in repair costs).  Hopefully I can squeeze a decent amount of service life out of her yet.  

Repair shenanigans

[Budget Appliance Repair]

Good job getting a few for more washes out of that old Calapso.

[Thirstytech]

Congrats on keeping her going! You have one of Whirlpool's first high efficiency top load washers AND it still runs!

Savor this moment and start saving for that new washer today.  

[xjosh]

Another chapter in this story: she quit again!  Same behaviour.  So I pulled out the washing machine control board again, obtained 4 more capacitors to replace the remaining old ones and bam!  She's back in business.  Quite finicky, changes her mind a lot.  Very interesting.  Well you know what they say, when the washer is happy, everybody's happy!  

The guy at the electronics store said it's rule of thumb to replace all the capacitors at once when they're old like that.  I guess the chemical inside breaks down and they lose their capacitance.  Or something.  

[Hiroshi]

Yes, the electrolyte fluid gets funky and often leaks, contaminating other components and soaking into the PCB