Fisher Paykel GW711 no spin, error 56

[geeroy]

My washing Machine is a gw711 fisher paykel

Sometimes it will just fill with water and then do nothing.. other times it will work till the spin cycle then stop.

Diagnostic mode gives error 56 which according to what ive read has a few causes. just wondering if there any common fault I should check ?

Thanks

[tony54]

My one was dooing the same thing and a change of the water pump fixed the problem.

[rievax]

That is a tricky one. The manual lists many possibilities for code 56.
The smart drive checks bowl engagement status by briefly kicking the motor alternately in one direction then the other.
As the tub fills, the bowl is supposed to float up causing the spline drive coupling to disengage so that the bowl is no longer coupled to the motor shaft.
Before wash can start, the agitator should be seen to kick about 45 degrees in one direction then the other. The bowl should remain still.
What do you see the agitator doing after filling has stopped?
Does the bowl rotate slowly while filling?

[geeroy]

That is a tricky one. The manual lists many possibilities for code 56.
The smart drive checks bowl engagement status by briefly kicking the motor alternately in one direction then the other.
As the tub fills, the bowl is supposed to float up causing the spline drive coupling to disengage so that the bowl is no longer coupled to the motor shaft.
Before wash can start, the agitator should be seen to kick about 45 degrees in one direction then the other. The bowl should remain still.
What do you see the agitator doing after filling has stopped?
Does the bowl rotate slowly while filling?

No when its playing up there is no movement from bowl or agitator whilst or after filling. I checked RPS as i heard they can become wet and corroded but it was very clean under there. I have also received a code 136 on the diagnostics. It seems to work again after being unplugged for a while and also plays up more in hotter weather.

[geeroy]

My one was dooing the same thing and a change of the water pump fixed the problem.

I thought pump would be ok since it always drains fine

[rievax]

It could be a motor controller problem that I have seen a few times now.
There are 3 resistors in series, R129, R130, R131 that tend to drift. They should be 332K. One of them needs to be taken out of circuit to get an accurate measurement.

[vbthanks]

When I bought my current washing machine, i purposely looked for one with the least amount of controls. Don't get me wrong, I love my electronics, but we're talking getting clothes wet, spinning them around, getting the wet again, and another little spin.

Why this requires an atmel mcu is beyond me.
My washer is 11 years old and going strong.

My sister's $2500 wall oven is full of electronics too, that s%$t itself, so we bypassed the control board and hey presto - working oven again.

Some things are better left simple.

Good luck with your fault finding, hope you get it fixed soon.

[geeroy]

It could be a motor controller problem that I have seen a few times now.
There are 3 resistors in series, R129, R130, R131 that tend to drift. They should be 332K. One of them needs to be taken out of circuit to get an accurate measurement.

your advice is looking good..got around to checking those resistors and they were all reading low out of circuit so I replaced them and no probs since *touch wood*

[rievax]

your advice is looking good..got around to checking those resistors and they were all reading low out of circuit so I replaced them and no probs since *touch wood*

Thats right, they drift low.
How did you replaced them? I used axial 0.4W 330K metal film resistors mounted vertically.

[geeroy]

Thats right, they drift low.
How did you replaced them? I used axial 0.4W 330K metal film resistors mounted vertically.

i did exactly that too

[geeroy]

ah well here we are again this time the board burnt up good and proper.
anyone know from what is burnt up in the pic what could have caused it?

[rievax]

Near the bottom of the picture there is corrosion and intertrack leakage caused by condensation. This has caused the main motor stator output IGBTs to be damaged, going short circuit.
The high fault current causes the current shunt resistors( far left) to blow open. This causes high voltage to be applied to low voltage circuitry.
There will be extensive damage, possibly including the microcontroller.

[geeroy]

thanks for that explanation. guess i should have fixed those tracks when i noticed it the first time. oh well

[Binaryboy]

It could be a motor controller problem that I have seen a few times now.
There are 3 resistors in series, R129, R130, R131 that tend to drift. They should be 332K. One of them needs to be taken out of circuit to get an accurate measurement.

GREAT FIX RIEVAX!

Just changed one of those resistors that was about 10% less than what it should have been with a regular axial one and hey presto now no Error 56 and can do a complete wash cycle!!

How the heck did you know those particular resistors were the culprit?

Cheers,

BB

[Stt_NZ]

Hi all,

I believe I have the same issue with the three resistors on a GW611. Problem is I can find those three R129,130 and 131 on the board. I have tried blowing up a close up photo, but still can't seem to locate them. The board should be the same as in Geeroy's message above - Marked PCB 420048 though mine is -G. Maybe they are numbered differently on this, but location might still be the same, so I hope one of you guys can help me locate it, please.
I have composed this photo showing my controller:
Thanks for your help in advance.
Stt_NZ

[Stt_NZ]

Hey - Guess what - I found them!!

Hope I didn't cause too much hassle for you guys - I had a thorough look this time - doing a grid-like search. Feel a bit -ish now.

Anyway - great forum here. Has anybody in here built their own controller to run the F&P washer motor as a motor?

Cheers, Stt_NZ

[Tommiy]

Hey - Guess what - I found them!!

Hope I didn't cause too much hassle for you guys - I had a thorough look this time - doing a grid-like search. Feel a bit -ish now.

Anyway - great forum here. Has anybody in here built their own controller to run the F&P washer motor as a motor?

Cheers, Stt_NZ

I have a IW812 that would not fill. Checked the above 3 resistors they all ranged from 260k to 280k. Replaced them and the machine sprung into life again!!

Great info!!!! Thanks

[Jumpy]

It could be a motor controller problem that I have seen a few times now.
There are 3 resistors in series, R129, R130, R131 that tend to drift. They should be 332K. One of them needs to be taken out of circuit to get an accurate measurement.

Many Thanks for your Suggestion "rievax" my three resistors - were down to 930k and the problem solved by replacing the center resistor with a 360k metal film 1/4 watt end in, as per your suggestion.
Thanks once again

[henry61]

My nephew had the same problem just this week on his GW711 and I too changed these resistors using the rievax method and it's working again, good as new. Two resistors were down to 315k and changed all three. I did also see on another forum that you can replace the three resistors with a single 1M resistor but I already purchased the smaller resistors so didn't try it but can't see why it wouldn't work.

[rievax]

Using a single 1M resistor is risky unless it's known to have an adequate voltage rating that can be trusted.
When I need a resistor to handle the full 340VDC, I have been using Welwyn vrw37 series resistors which can be found on eBay now.
Don't use carbon film resistors, no matter what their specs might say.

EDIT: Or WELWYN MH series also.